Double Acts
by Spydertiger
Summary: When Liz and Patty are whisked off to the mad universe of D.Gray-man, neither have any idea of what to expect. Least of all a crazy pair of gun-toting brothers. Perhaps it's the start of a strange new friendship, if they don't kill each other first.
1. Chapter 1 Who the Hell is She?

**Jasdero**

I know that sometimes I shouldn't, but I always do everything David says. It's just what I do. And it makes no difference anyway 'cuz either way we're just the same, being twins and everything. If we've got an idea, what does it matter who suggested it? 'Cuz we're the same. Except maybe I'm just a bit crazier than he is. And he's definitely a lot less sane. So we're the same and different. Which is weird because I know that he doesn't like hanging around outside, same as me, and yet it was him today that suggested we go outside.

People tell me otherwise but I'm not stupid. I know David. I _know_ him. He wanted to get away from Tyki. _I_ wanted to get away from Tyki, that smug, self-centred jerk that's always bringing me down but I don't care, I really don't, 'cuz what does he know anyway, 'cept how to go through things like a half-rate ghost. And there he is, sitting in that big chair, laughing (_laughing_) at David and puffing away at that stupid cigarette.

And I know that David really doesn't like this. _I_ really don't like this. And immediately I can tell that David is In A Bad Mood. Puts _me_ In A Bad Mood. But if there's something David hates more than Tyki, it's the Boss getting pissed off, so he - we - don't start a fight.

We go outside. _He_ does. I follow.

And so I'm there, and it's cold god it's cold, and I watch him kick a stone across the garden and we both watch it bounce into the trees like it's got better things to do that hang around here with us. He's being all silent but I know he's only like this 'cuz he's angry with Tyki, and it's not me. I know this 'cuz his head's in mine and it's just _seething_ with that red anger that David gets sometimes. We hear a door slam inside and I see this picture David's got in his head of Tyki lying on the floor and there's something wrong with his head, it's not quite where it should be.

So I take David's picture and I put in a lot of red blood all around Tyki and a big pointy knife in his chest. And I see David smile at that, just a tiny bit like he doesn't want me seeing, which is stupid because we know everything about each other. So I make Tyki's legs all broken to match his neck, and David smiles a bit more. And then I put a monkey in and it's dancing on Tyki, because I just kind of like monkeys, and he snorts, and I know David's trying not to laugh.

"He's stupid," I say, out loud this time 'cuz I don't feel like thinking.

"A bastard," David agrees.

"And smelly."

"A big fucking asshole." He knows much worse words than me. I don't know how, but he does and he's not so bothered about using them as I am. I don't know how to swear. It's just hard for me, and David always tells me I don't sound like I really mean it, not like he does.

He doesn't like me thinking like that, so he jabs me in the head with his pistol. So I take out mine and poke him in the shoulder back. And we start a poking game which ends with me running away from him and so he chases me into the trees and I stop there 'cuz I've always been kind of scared of this forest just outside the house, I don't like it very much.

David's scared of it too just the same as I am, but he doesn't show it as much as I do. I'm all ready to turn around and go inside again, maybe Road will make me a hot chocolate 'cuz it is _so_ cold, but David just takes my arm and together we go even further into the trees.

I can't count time too good, but I'm pretty sure we walked for about ten minutes. I can't tell direction either, so after a bit I don't even know which way the house is. And I know David doesn't either. He _wants_ to get lost. He's scared of the forest but he likes being lost much more and I like that too, because it means no one knows where you are 'cept yourself and that means you don't have to be with anyone 'cept yourself.

And your brother.

David's already gotten bored of walking and he's just sitting on this tree stump, liking being lost. I see a squirrel and it squeaks at me in a rude kind of way and runs off. Even squirrels can swear better than I can. After that I start counting acorns, 'cuz it seems there are a lot of them in this bit of the woods, and once I get to twenty-seven I stop since I can't count that high so good and I just start again.

But David's noticed something else, and that makes me notice it too, and we both turn around to where there's this funny smell like when the Boss makes bacon in the morning, but not as nice.

David looks at me and I look at him and we're already both walking towards it and we've already got our guns out 'cuz it's just who we are. I think I can see the smell now, but David shakes his head and tells me _it's smoke _in my head, and I twist my head to the side and just go _oh_. As we move slowly towards it, I can see the smoke flying up to the greyish sky and it's moving kind of all over the place and that makes me think of the dancing monkey and so I laugh quickly.

We suddenly come to a place where the trees stop and no trees begins and that smell is stronger here and then David stops and I stop and we both stare and stare and stare.

"What the bloody hell?" he says.

Like I said, I can't swear, so I just laugh again.

The ground is sort of dusty and black and the smoke is coming from that and a small bit of bush that's managed to catch fire and there's someone kneeling in the middle of all this smoke and blackness and dust and they see us and we seem them and she gets to her feet, and she is tall.

Taller than me and taller than David, and she's looking at us like we're aliens and she's never seen anything like us in her life. And boy is she ever pretty. She's got hair just like mine, long and yellow and kind of all over the place at the same time, but I think that might just be because of this accident she's been in.

'Cuz _something_ must have started that fire. And David and I both notice at the same time that this girl, she's holding a gun which is pointing at us. So we point ours back at her and she looks kind of scared and David gives her this _look_ to say yeah, that's right we can hurt you too.

Her mouth moves and she mumbles in a kind of dry and quiet voice. David glances at me and I glance at him, and I laugh because I can, and he shrugs. _She doesn't look dangerous _he tells me, and I put my head on one side to show I don't think so either and I go _she's pretty_. And he blinks at me.

"W-where…am I?" Her voice sounds real sore and she can barely whisper, but she still won't stop looking at us - this makes me laugh again - and she still got that big silver pistol pointing at us.

"Who are you?" That's David, not me, 'cuz I can't do things right when they've got to get done.

"Who are _you_?" she croaks back, and I laugh 'cuz she's copying David and this makes her look at me and her eyes go all scared again.

Her eyes are blue.

After a bit of pausing, David goes, "I'm David."

"I'm Jasdero," I say, because this is my bit. "Together, we're Jasdevi!"

She doesn't look like she's understood. "I'm…Liz." She takes a step forward and I can see her wobbling a bit. "Where am I?"

Again David looks at me, and I waggle my eyebrows in confusion and he wrinkles his nose at me and we both shrug.

"You lost, girl?" asks David out loud, still not taking his gun off her 'cuz she hasn't taken hers off us.

"Yes. I think so…"

"This is a forest, hee!" I say, since she doesn't seem to realise.

"I know that," she says slowly. "But _where_ am I?"

And we both fall silent, both realising that we don't actually know. The Earl never told us.

"Tyki would know," I say without thinking and then David's thoughts come back at me like a whip, all red and angry again and full of those pictures of broken Tyki once more, only there's anger at _me_ in there somewhere for suggesting this, but it's quick and he's already forgiven me.

"Who?" Wow, this girl knows _nothing_.

"No one," says David, which isn't true.

"We hate him," I say, which is.

"Please…" And we both makes our eyes wide with surprise 'cuz she's not pointing that pistol at us anymore, but holding it down at her side, and she's _pleading_ at us with those blue eyes, looking worried. "You have to…help me. Have you see Kidd?"

Immediately David's thoughts whoosh with question marks and asking, and I just shrug 'cuz I can't answer them, and so we both stare at her.

"Who's that?" David demands, still with his gun on her.

And does she ever look _scared_.

***

**David**

So this stupid girl just stands there, _staring_ at us, and it's starting to annoy me. What the hell was I supposed to say? What makes it worse is that she doesn't attack, doesn't try to run, doesn't do fucking _anything_, just stands there looking all tragic and alone.

Then she speaks again, slowly, like she can't believe what's going on. Sod it, _I_ can't believe what's going on.

"You…don't know him?"

"Nuh uh," says Jasdero, watching her intently.

This time she sobs - actually _sobs_ - and raises the gun again. I nudge Jasdero and we both raise our arms a little higher in case she tries anything. Not that she looks up to it.

"You must have heard of him!" she says, hysterically now. "Death the Kidd! Son of the Shinigami!"

We both shake our heads in disbelief. Holy shit, is this woman _insane_? Believing in Death Gods at her age?

And she just loses it. "He's about this high, he's got dark hair with three white stripes on the left hand side and he's got golden-yellow eyes and he wears a black and white suit with a skull at the collar and I've _lost him!_"

I hear Jasdero give a little whimper, he doesn't like her shouting at him. So do what I seem to be doing a lot of today; I get kind of angry. "Jesus _shit_ girl, would you just shut up already?"

She shuts up.

And then…

Just when this day couldn't get any crazier…

(Bloody hell, I want to go home)

I swear I could have imagined it…

(I'll forgive Tyki, I'll do anything, just let me go home)

Her gun speaks.

I swear to effing heaven, I am not lying, I am _not_, her gun talks to me.

"You leave Liz alone, meanie!"

And I'm so surprised, so fucking _surprised_ that for once in my life I dunno what to say. Neither does Jas. He very slowly looks at me and then raises one of his heavily bandaged hands to point at the gun.

"It spoke, Debitto," he says blankly.

Normally I don't like him calling me this, 'cuz it's what the Earl likes to call me, and Tyki does it too to piss me off, but I let it slide. "I know, Jas."

"That's _crazy_, hee!" And I realise he's laughing, he's laughing his goddamned head off, and before I know it I'm laughing too because when Jasdero laughs, it fills his head and his entire body, until it's bleeding into mine and I can't help but copy him.

"Don't call me crazy!" says the pistol again, and I swear it jerks slightly, like it's _alive_ and wants to be put down.

The girl wipes her eyes and fixes me with an angry stare. I stare sulkily back at her, wondering what her problem is. She doesn't say anything, but then her gun wiggles again (it is moving, I'm not just imagining it) and says, "Lemme take care of them, sis!"

Jasdero looks at me. _Sis?_

The girl calling herself Liz sighs and kind of slumps like she can't be bothered anymore, and she's suddenly glowing and so is the gun, and me and Jas step back 'cuz in all truth we don't know what the fuck is going on.

And then this Liz, she's gone, and there's another girl in her place. Holding the pistol.

No, that's not right. Holding _a _pistol.

Jasdero sees it too, and he nudges me, sending me a thought. Had that…that Liz…just _turned into_ a gun?

No way.

This new girl, she's a helluva lot shorter, and so's her hair. She's a lot more _lively_ than the other one and even smiles at us, which is confusing.

Jasdero laughs again, and cocks his pistol at her. I do too. "Gonna try'n take us on, are you?" I try and sneer, but f'you really want the truth, I'm way too shaken up to pull it off properly.

She shrugs, still smiling with the biggest goddamned smile I've ever seen, it's taking up half her face. The last time I saw someone smile that big, it was Jasdero.

So there we were, the three - no, the _four_ of us - in this forest clearing, guns turned on each other.

Can you say stalemate?

It takes me a moment to realise that this new girl is talking to us, and really, really fast. It's hard to make out what she's saying and every time she pauses to take a breath it seems like she's gonna stop but no, she just carries on until I think my head's gonna explode from everything she's saying.

Jasdero knows I don't like this, and he kind of gives me this sideways look that I just catch, like he's asking me permission.

Which in a way, he is. He can't fire if I don't.

So I do. And he does. And we don't even need to say anything, don't even need to _think_ about it, we just know what to fire. And the whole world goes blue for a second and there's this one crazy moment where I think, that's funny, that's really funny, it's exactly the same colour as her eyes, and then it's gone and everything's still.

When I breathe, I breathe steam. It's that cold. Jasdero copies me, and laughs. "Hey, David, watch this, hee!" He picks up a twig and sticks it between his lips, blowing out misted breath. "Look at me, I'm _Tyki!_"

I snigger, 'cuz Jasdero's really funny when he wants to be. Not like me. I'm always angry, or impatient, or happy or some kind of uncomfortable mix of all of them. I don't really know how to be funny and batty like Jas does.

The frosty air clears slightly, and now the whole clearing is all sparkly and white and blue and the girl's disappeared. No, she hasn't, she's lying on the floor, half-buried in snow and icy shards. The gun's still clutched in her blue fingers.

"Tch." I put my pistol away, and so does Jas. He's standing funny like he always does, half bent and with his arms hanging down like a broken puppet. When he catches me looking at him, he twists his head to one side and pulls a face, each eye going in the opposite direction.

"Let's go home," I say, and we both turn around. It takes a moment for me to remember that I don't know the way home. "Aw, shit." Jasdero stares at me, and he doesn't say anything, but I can hear his thoughts and they're just going _home? Hot chocolate? Home?_

Behind me, there's movement, and the girl struggles to her feet in a crunch of snow and ice.

"Careful, Patty," says the gun called Liz.

'Patty' is shivering uncontrollably, and me and Jas laugh at that, which she doesn't like. She raises the gun and before I know what's happening she's firing like a mad thing, screaming and screaming, and bloody hell, that's not screaming, she's effing _laughing. _

I duck and the wood of the tree behind me explodes above my head. I don't think this Patty's even aiming, she's just shooting for the hell of it. I see Jasdero turning around, and he's not ducking, he's _not effing ducking_, he's just standing there in that funny way of his and then there's a rain of bullets and he's thrown backwards and hits a tree and lies there, hair covering his face and not moving and _not effing moving_.

I see Patty not stopping, turning the gun on me and missing, missing, missing, but she managed to hit Jasdero. And he's _not moving. _I don't know how to move anymore. I don't know how to stand up. I don't even know how to breathe. I don't know anything anymore.

I just sit there on my knees, staring and staring like a sodding idiot at Jasdero's hair all over the frosty ground and those bandages he wears all up his arms 'cuz he hurt himself bad one time and never bothered to take them off and at his fingernails painted black 'cuz I do mine that way and he's just like me.

"Patty!" The gun's stopped firing and I don't even realise. It's talking again. "Stop it Patty, stop it!"

And then there are two girls instead of one, and I can feel them both staring at me, so I turn and I scream at them. I can't remember how to make words anymore, so I just open my mouth and this great big sound comes out, and it feels full of all my anger and how Jasdero was there and now he's not anymore.

He's…

Not…

There's a numbness in my brain, a numbness which is usually filled with his endless chattering and laughing and pictures 'cuz Jasdero never knows how to switch that crazy mind of his off, and his mind is mine just like mine's in his. But his isn't there any more. Does that…does that mean…

_Ow. Ow…ow ow owowowowowowowowowowowow_

I blink.

His foot twitches.

The _ow_s in my head go on and on. And then he sits up and my heart is expanding like a balloon 'cuz he's not dead after all. He sits up real slow and rubs his head and I can see his forehead is bleeding kind of bad, but he wipes the blood away and then the wound is gone 'cuz he's a Noah so he'll always be okay.

He rubs his head. _Owowowowowowow. _He looks at me and his eyes are all bulgy and kind of all over the place. "Ow, Debitto."

I swallow. "Yeah, Jas."

Those two bitches are still staring at us.

***

**Jasdero**

I_ hurt_ all over. When I was shot I didn't know what was going on 'cept that my tummy hurt more than anything ever. It felt like the time David kicked me in the middle 'cuz I dared him to, but much worse. I guess I must have been unconscious for a while 'cuz when I wake up I have no idea where I am and I'm sitting against a tree and my head hurts and my stomach hurts, it hurts _so much_.

My head gets better real quick though and soon I'm just rubbing my tummy and hoping it will stop hurting. David is watching me and he's shaking and I can see his thoughts, they're all white with relief and full of horrible pictures of me turning around, of me smashing against that tree, of me looking so _dead_.

No wonder he was scared.

_Wasn't_ I instantly get from him, and just like that he's not looking at me anymore, but his thoughts go on in my head, quick and scared and happy and _he's alivealivealivealivealive _over and over again. Then he's looking at the short girl and suddenly I'm frightened because his face has gone all dark and angry and his thoughts are red again and this time I'm seeing the girl broken and dead and bloody on the floor.

And this time I don't add a monkey.

The tall, beautiful Liz is holding the short girl - her _sister_ - so hard and her face is scared but so strong at the same time that it confuses me so I laugh again, but not very well 'cuz I still feel dizzy. I hear another squirrel in the tree above me, and I look up just in time to see its tail disappearing into the leaves.

David has got to his feet and is waiting for me to do the same, so I do and we both stand side by side, me swaying a bit and feeling seasick (can you feel seasick on land? I don't know) and both looking at the girls. I can still feel David's thoughts and now he's just going_ kill, kill. Kill kill _over and over again which I don't really like but it's filling me up like water and soon I'm just overflowing with _kill_ until I wanna kill her too.

Her sister is still holding her.

"Kill! Kill, kill, kill!" I scream 'cuz I can't hold it in anymore which isn't fair 'cuz it was David's idea in the first place and now it's mine even though I never really wanted it.

"No!" says the short girl real suddenly. "No, no, no!"

I don't really know what to say to that.

I'm wobbling where I stand.

David takes a deep breath. "You don't hurt Jasdero," he says, and it's in a really hard voice that I've heard before, when he _really_ means what he's saying, which doesn't happen very often. "You don't, not ever."

"You don't hurt Patty," says Liz immediately. "Never."

So her name's Patty.

I stare at her and she pulls a face back at me which makes me confused and all the while Liz and David glower at each other over our heads with real mean expressions.

"What have you done with Kidd?" says Liz really firmly and I can hear a hardness in her voice too, and I realise that this Kidd person, he must be real important to her.

"We don't know him," snaps David.

"We never seen him," I say.

Patty's eyes are the same colour as her sister's.

Liz catches me looking at her, and I see her flinch backwards, dragging Patty with her. "What are you looking at?"

I don't say anything.

She doesn't like this, and tries to glare at me all angry, but once you've seen David's angry face, anyone else's just looks kind of pathetic. 'Cept the Earl's. I think of this and I can't help it, and even though he's not there even the thought of him angry makes my stomach kind of lurch and I look sideways at David and I know he's thinking it too.

_Sorry_.

_S'ok_. He knows I can't help it. I'm more scared of the Earl than anything in the world.

Liz is still looking at me and those blue eyes are still really wide and scared. I look back at her.

"What?" she asks again, all worried like I'm dangerous.

I don't say anything.

Her voice rises. "Why's he staring at me?" It goes all high and wobbly 'cuz she's scared. "What's wrong with him? Make him stop!" she cries to David, who looks kind of surprised at her talking to him like this.

I don't say anything, I just stare. I never seen a proper girl before, 'cept for Road and Lulubelle and one or two exorcists. And they don't count 'cuz they're bad.

"Why are you staring?" she asks again, at me.

David sighs, she's annoying him. _Tell her, Jas_ he says to me.

"Your eyes," I say at last. "They're blue."

"I know," she says crazily, not letting go of her sister. "So what?"

"Her eyes are blue too, hee!" I say, laughing 'cuz it's so funny.

"Your eyes are gold," says Patty all suddenly, pointing at me. "And so are his." She points at David. David scowls.

"Kidd…" moans Liz, and I remember somewhere her telling us that his eyes were gold too. Black hair, gold eyes, black and white suit. That reminds me of dinner two weeks ago, and me and David in suits like Tyki's and David not putting his tie on 'cuz he doesn't like wearing it.

He sees me remembering this and pulls a face. I pull one back. He sniggers. I laugh. I laugh until I fall over and my sides hurt and for a while I lie there and watch a cloud float over.

"I'm hungry, sis," I hear Patty say. "Let's go get ice cream."

I look up at that, 'cuz me and David like ice cream too, especially pistachio. David's thinking of it too and he's trying not to show he's hungry but I can see his thoughts and they're overflowing with food he likes to eat like ice cream and beef and noodles and pineapple and chicken and rice and those fried rice omelettes he loves so much. I sit back and all I can think about is pistachio ice cream and how green it is.

"No ice cream here," says Liz back.

"Yeah there is," I tell her. "At the house. Skin's got _loads_."

She gives me a funny look. And Patty's already looking happy. Happier than anyone I've ever seen. "Ice cream? Really?"

"Yeah," I tell her, and David pulls me to my feet and side by side we stand there and watch Liz and Patty.

"We need help," says Liz straight out. "We don't know where we are, we've lost our friend and we need food and shelter."

I look at David and he looks at me and all he thinks is _she's brave that was brave saying that_. And it was.

We don't know what to do.

"I don't know what to do," I say to Liz and Patty and they just look confused.

"Are you exorcists?" says David suddenly and he's being all suspicious and who can blame him 'cuz we can't help exorcists, they're bad, they're really bad and anyway the Earl will beat us if we help exorcists.

Liz looks confused. "What?"

"Are you the enemy, hee?" I ask.

"No," says Patty.

"I don't think so," says Liz. "We just want to go home."

"Where is home?" asks David, and I realise that for the first time his thoughts aren't angry at her, he's quieter now and he's just asking to know.

"Death City," says Liz in a small voice and I can see she's thinking of home and this Kidd person and I'm thinking of home too and sitting by the fire with pistachio ice cream.

David looks a bit sad at that and I can see he wants to go home too. It's already getting sort of dark. _Let's go home, Jas_.

_Okay, Debitto._

But we're lost.

And suddenly I don't like being lost no more.

"North," says David suddenly. "Home is north."

And in his head I can see a memory of Tyki telling us this.

Liz points. "That's north."

We both stare, which she doesn't like. "How do you know?"

She points at the sun. "It's setting in the west. So that's north."

We stare some more. Patty laughs. Then David yanks his coat hood up like he does when he doesn't want anyone looking at him and stomps off. I follow.

After a minute, Liz and Patty do too.

I notice that Patty's leading Liz. Up ahead, David has stuck his hands deep into his pockets and he's feeling kind of confused and unhappy so I run to his side and we walk together and his thoughts get a bit better.

But not much better.

Behind me, Liz says something and Patty laughs. I've never heard no one laugh like that, so loud and so crazy, and so _long_. She laughs like she's never gonna stop. Like no one I've ever heard in our house.

"You do that," David tells me, dark under his hood and looking at his feet as he walks, not 'cuz he's sulking but because he's looking out for flowers so he can step on them.

"What did you say?" calls Liz from behind me, and David stops and turns around and fixes her with a _look_ and even I think he's a bit scary when he's got that hood up.

"Wasn't talking to you."

"Who were you talking to then?"

"Jas," he says, pointing at me.

"But he didn't say anything."

"Yeah I did, hee!" I explain. Liz looks confused, and again, frightened. "Did you?" Patty's clutching her arm, and even she looks a bit worried. "I didn't hear anything."

"He still told me," says David, turning around and carrying on walking, stomp stomp stomp.

"You did it before," says Liz in a scared voice, watching his retreating back. "I saw you. He looks at you and you kind of look at him, and you don't say anything but you somehow agree on stuff."

Again, David turns. And he's smiling but it's his evil smile and I know he's not really going to hurt her but he sure looks like he would and Liz doesn't know him like I do so she looks scared and hugs Patty tight.

"We're special," says David. And that's all he says and he's walking ahead again. Liz and Patty stare at me and they don't start following because I'm still standing there staring at them.

_They're scared of you_ David tells me.

"Are they?" I ask him.

"Stop it!" says Liz and I grin at her, which frightens her even more, and run after David.

Behind me, Liz and Patty start following again.

David hides under his hood and marches silently at my side, full of bad thoughts he doesn't know what to do with.

I know.

I can see them.


	2. Chapter 2 A Few New Friends

**David**

I like being under the hood because no one can see me properly 'less I look at them straight. I just keep walking north and Jasdero is next to me thinking 'bout the strange things Jasdero thinks about and all the while I can hear Liz behind me, talking to Patty in a scared way and Patty telling her jokes and laughing.

Again Jasdero glances back at that; he can't understand someone laughing unless it's him, and although I try to tell him he laughs just as crazily as she does by showing him all my memories of him doing it, he still doesn't get it.

Or maybe he just can't get her.

I know I don't. The way that Liz was talking, you'd think they'd come from another bloody _planet_ or something. I see a flower. I squash it flat.

It's going to take a while getting home, and I try not to think about that, nor how _hungry_ I feel. Jasdero's getting hungry too and he sends me a picture of spicy curry which I know is his favourite and that's all he's really thinking about right now.

I try and think about Liz and Patty to stop thinking about food so much and I try and think about where they might of come from and how they got here and what started that fire but that's all too much and my head hurts so I get angry and stop thinking about that.

I just remember the first time we saw Liz and again I see her sooty face and frightened, desperate expression and I wonder if it's scary, being lost in the wrong place.

Jasdero's thinking about that too and he doesn't like it so I feel bad and backtrack quickly so he doesn't have to feel what I feel. Again I see Liz's defeated face and her glowing and turning into a gun - how is that even possible? - and the sudden appearance of the smaller Patty.

_Girls, Debitto_. I look at Jasdero. He shrugs at me and goes all bug-eyed. _Girls are strange_. Yeah. They sure are.

I suddenly think of Road, and then Tyki and all the others and what the fuck will they_ say_ when we walk in the door with a couple of strangers in tow? Me and Jas, we don't get nervous easily. I don't care what Tyki says, I don't care what Road says. It's not like we brought Liz and Patty home, they just followed us. But…but…

_If the Boss finds out_. Jasdero finishes my thought for me.

"Shit!" I say real loud just 'cuz it helps me stop thinking so much.

Patty gasps behind me and giggles. "Bad word! You're a bad boy!"

I don't like that. I don't like her calling me that. It reminds me of Tyki, and him calling me a boy, like I'm really stupid and can't take care of things myself.

I mean, I take care of Jasdero okay.

God, Tyki's annoying.

"Fucking _shit_," I say.

"Bad!" Patty calls behind me, and I turn real fast and glare at her and just say, "You can shut up, you bitch."

And before I know what's happening, Liz leaps forward and smacks me really hard across the face, so hard that I stagger backwards and my ears are ringing like nobody's business.

"David!" Jasdero is there and he's kind of worried but trying not to laugh at the same time, and Liz is looking at me with a face like thunder.

And I'm standing there with a big red mark appearing on my face and my skin stinging and all I can think is _she's too blonde and pretty to look properly scary _like an idiot.

"You're not that pretty," I tell her out loud, and of course she doesn't understand.

"Don't you dare call Patty that ever again," she says angrily.

"Nyah." I stick my tongue out at her to show I don't care and when she takes a threatening step closer I just stick my middle finger up to show I'm not scared of her. 'Cuz she doesn't look like a killer.

Not at all.

But she's still glaring at me and behind the blue of her eyes I can sense a kind of toughness, something that suggests she's not all blonde hair and scared eyes and that she's maybe just maybe just a bit more dangerous that I might have thought.

It's there. But it's faint.

And I know that Jasdero and I are way, way more dangerous than she could ever be. I know that she's scared of us. So I just glare back at her, and pull my hood back up and carry on walking. So does Jas.

Behind me, I hear Liz call out, "I meant what I said," as if I didn't get it, and I ignore her.

She starts following us again.

***

**Liz**

For a moment I'm standing there, and I know I'm shaking as I hold Patty. Shaking from _anger_. I haven't hit anyone like that for a while. Patty looks up at me and I slowly let go, because she's looking slightly _scared_.

Scared…of me?

I smile at her to show her that everything's okay, and start walking again. She skips to keep up with me and takes my hand, putting her other thumb in her mouth. When she does that, it means she's contented.

I guess that's something.

As we walk, me holding Patty's hand tight and her squeezing my fingers every now and then to reassure me, I watch the backs of the weird pair we've found ourselves following. I swear, I've never seen anything like them, not even in Death City.

_Grey_ skin?

And those guns. I think back to that awful moment when Patty was holding me, and suddenly everything was obliterated in an explosion of ice. For a moment, I had been so sure that Patty was dead. But what kind of guns fire _ice_? It didn't make any sense. At first I'd thought the guns were like us. People. But they'd both looked so shocked, so_ surprised_ at what me and Patty could do that I realised.

We weren't at home any more.

Where were we? I wanted to ask them again, but I don't think they know themselves, and besides, they scare me. I look at the hunched figure of the dark one, the one I know is called David. I don't think I've seen him smile properly yet. At least, not a nice smile. He doesn't seem like a nice person. I remember how quick he was to get angry at Patty.

I shudder as I remember how quick _I_ was to get angry at _him_.

The other one dances next to his…friend? Brother? I don't know _his_ name. Didn't hear it properly. From a distance I could have sworn it was a girl, but then he spoke and I realised he's just a boy with really long hair and an expression so demented, it's kind of hard to tell. He laughs _constantly_ and it's not an especially nice laugh. It makes me shiver.

Patty's not bothered. As she walks she makes stupid jokes and although I don't laugh at them, they make me feel a bit better. A bit more normal.

Because it's _hard_ to feel normal without Kidd here. As I think this, my heart hurts - actually _hurts_, like it's going to split in half - and I miss him _so much_.

I don't even know what happened. One minute we were fighting a witch, and we were knocked out of his hands. I changed, and snatched Patty up without thinking because I have to defend him, it's what I _do_, and the witch, she just _looks_ at us and there was an explosion and…

And…

I woke up here, still holding Patty.

Well, thank god for that, at least.

She tugs at me and whispers in my ear. "I'm tired, sis."

And that's not something I hear from her a lot. So I stroke her hair and turn to the duo in front. "Hey!"

They both stop, at exactly the same time. Creepy.

I raise my chin, because I feel braver that way. "We're tired. Can we take a break?"

The blonde one is looking at me, and I don't look at him. His eyes are wide and scary, like a fish or some sort of nocturnal animal. I fix my gaze on the back of David's head and wait for him to turn around.

"It's getting dark," he says eventually.

"I know," I reply. "But just ten minutes. It wouldn't hurt."

He faces me and pulls the hood down, glaring suspiciously. He's got funny hair that sticks up on only one side, and sort of covers one half of his face.

Kidd really wouldn't like that.

My heart hurts again.

I see David glance at his friend, and the other one glances back and again there's that _thing_ they do, like they're reading each other's mind or something.

David nods and together they sit down.

Patty's relieved at that, and before I can stop her she's running ahead to sit down with them. Oh Patty…

I can't be relaxed around new people like she can.

More slowly, I follow, and carefully sit down - after checking the ground is dry - next to my sister. I hug my knees because it's getting cold. David is sitting with his back against a tree and flicking acorns around.

The blonde one stares at me.

I try not to notice, but it's quite hard with him so close. It's so _creepy_ the way he stares, with really wide eyes like some kind of animal, like he's deciding how best to eat me.

Eventually I can't stand it and I tell him to stop it.

He says nothing.

"Stop it! Just…stop staring, you weirdo!"

"Jasdero."

"What?" I turn to look at David, who's glowering at me with those golden eyes - so much like Kidd's, it's painful - from under his dark hair. In other circumstances, I might have found him handsome.

"His name," he says, very firmly. "Is Jasdero."

"I don't care what he's called!" I say, and I know I'm getting hysterical, but this has been one crazy day and this…crazy _Jasdero_ staring is not helping. "Just make him stop it!"

"He can understand you, you know," snaps David, and I think this Jasdero, he must care about him in some way to defend him like this. "Stop talking like he's not listening."

I don't mean to, I don't. But David's words make me feel kind of ashamed so I go quiet and sit there, not looking at Jasdero.

Patty sticks her tongue out at him. I see his gaze shift slowly to her, and he just stares and stares and stares.

He doesn't blink as much as normal people do.

"Bleah!" Patty pulls another face. Jasdero stares. It becomes a sort of game and me and David kind of end up watching without meaning to. Patty makes her face go all piggy and oinks at Jasdero, trying to get a reaction. When he doesn't move, she makes two horns with her hands and _moo_s like a cow. Again he stares at her, like he's trying to work out what the hell she's doing.

Patty sticks her hands on her hips and flaps her elbows, squawking like a chicken.

And suddenly Jasdero's screaming with laughter, so much that he's fallen over backwards. It makes me jump and I stare at him, wondering why _chickens_, of all things, are so funny. There must be something I'm missing, because David looks at Jasdero and leaps to his feet, and his face is angrier than I've ever seen it so far.

I recoil backwards and drag Patty with me, just in case.

Jasdero's laughter subside into gleeful hiccups and the occasional giggle and he stares at David, who glowers back and shakes his head. They're doing that thing again. David turns his back on all of us and storms off a few feet.

"Debitto?" Jasdero slowly crawls to his feet and kneels there, staring after him. His expression surprises me…so _forlorn_.

David doesn't move. Whatever chickens reminded him of, it _really_ pissed him off.

He turns around and comes back to sit next to Jasdero again, who gazes at him.

After a silence David mutters, "S'okay Jas."

And I realise that Jasdero's apologised for whatever it was, in his _head_.

I wish they wouldn't do that.

Can they read minds?

Can they read _my_ mind?

I hope not.

"Chickens?" says Patty hesitantly, confused about what's happening.

David scowls at her, and I shoot him a warning look, which he ignores. Jasdero grins at Patty, so wide that those freaky strings around his mouth stretch like he's gonna rip them off. "Dero likes chickens!"

It takes me a moment to realise that Dero is _him_.

I point at him. "Jasdero."

He points at himself. "Dero."

I point at David. "David."

Jasdero points at David. "Debitto." David moves suddenly at that, but seems to think better of it.

Jasdero points at himself and then at David. "Jasdevi." Okay, didn't get that part.

Then he points at me. "Liz," he says, which surprises me. I slowly nod, and then point at myself too. "Elizabeth."

He points at Patty, and she beams at him. "Patty," he says.

"Patricia," I say, pointing at her. Then he points from her to me and gives me an expectant look. I don't really know what he wants, so I just shrug helplessly. He looks confused and repeats the action.

Patty comes to the rescue. "Lizpatty!" she says, and Jasdero nods like he understands.

I look at her kind of sadly. "Kidd," I say. And she nods and puts her arms around me.

Jasdero watches all this. So does David. "Who's that?" he asks, which kind of surprises me.

I look back at him, trying to work out what to tell him. "Kidd's…our friend," I say at last.

"Where is he?" asks Jasdero, rocking where he sits.

"I don't…know," I say, and I'm fighting back tears as I say it.

Neither David nor Jasdero have anything to say to that. Jasdero's watching Patty again, and she screws her face up at him.

He smiles.

And it's not so scary this time.

***

**David**

I watch Liz as she sniffs, and wipes her eyes real subtle, like she doesn't want anyone knowing she's upset. I wonder who Kidd is. I wonder what he is to her.

Jasdero doesn't. He's having way too much fun with Patty, pulling one face after another and it looks like they're trying to outdo each other. I get a flash of his thoughts and all he's thinking is _funny, funny, she's funny, funny girl, Patty_ and he's not telling me any of this, it's just what he's thinking and I just happen to have picked up on it.

I feel like we should start moving again, but Liz is still looking upset. I hope she's not going to start crying 'cuz I may have to kill her if she does. There's something bugging me though, and I tear up leaves in my lap as I try and think about how to say it.

"Earlier," I say at last, out loud. She looks at me.

I swallow, and feel my face go all angry, I can't help it, I really can't. "When…when Jasdero was…was shot."

She frowns and then nods like she's just remembered, the bitch.

"He's not dead," I say, and I know how stupid I sound for saying that so I just look even angrier.

"I know," she says.

"Why?" I demand, 'cuz I really don't get it. "It was a gun. She - " I point at Patty. "She _shot_ him. How come he's alive?"

"I'm not a normal gun," she says, and I blink at that 'cuz that's right, isn't it, it wasn't just a gun, it was her, it was her.

I get mad. _It was her_. "You shot Jasdero."

"I didn't kill him," and she's not saying it all defensive, and she's not pleading for forgiveness or anything, she's just telling me the facts, all straight out and cold. "We're not normal guns. We don't kill. We wound."

Oh, that makes _so_ much sense. I snort like I don't take her seriously.

Jasdero's looking at me again.

"And why…" I tear some more leaves up 'cuz this bit's gonna be harder. "She…You told her to stop it. When Jas was hit. You made Patty stop."

Liz is watching me real hard and she's got a funny look on her face like she's trying to figure me out. "You seem to need him."

"What's it to you?" I say real quick, and it comes out angry and hurtful and I don't care, I won't apologise.

"It…reminded me of Patty." And it looks like this is hard for Liz too. "The way you cared."

I don't like her saying that. I _really_ don't like her saying that. I get to my feet and Liz is staring at me, and she doesn't know that she's in _so_ much danger right now, that I'm about to hurt her so bad, and she's gonna be dead -

"Why?"

Patty's staring at me.

I don't understand.

"Is he your bestest friend?" she asks, pointing at Jasdero.

Liz stares at me too, and she doesn't know that if Patty had interrupted me I would have killed them, I would have killed them both, really.

"Yeah!" says Jasdero.

"No," I say, and he looks real surprised but then he sees what I'm thinking and understands.

Liz raises an eyebrow. "No?" 

I take a deep breath 'cuz I don't like telling people this 'cuz it's none of their fucking business. "He's my brother."

Patty goggles at me.

"My _twin_ brother," I snap, and then Jasdero's standing next to me and I pull him away from them and we start walking north again. "C'mon Jas. Let's go home."

"'kay, Debitto."

It's gotten darker and I can't see ahead of me properly no more.

I pull my hood up again.

***

**Jasdero**

I hear a squeaking and I look up and there are bats flying overhead and I can just seem them even though they're black and the sky's almost black too.

"It's late, David."

"I know, Jasdero."

I go silent and then I say, "Let's play a joke on Tyki when we get home."

And he likes that idea, I can tell, and he smiles at me from under the hood. "Yeah, Jasdero."

"Let's put scissors in his bath."

"Let's mix glass in his toothpaste."

And I shake my head and jump up and down 'cuz I got a better idea than that. "Let's wait 'til he sits in his chair, and then we can make the floorboards disappear."

'Cuz we can do that, me and him, together.

We both fall silent, picturing Tyki falling, right _through_ the floor and screaming all the way and the nasty _crack_ he makes when he hits the ground below.

I reminds me of last month when we balanced a bucket of knives above his door and he came and found us after with this massive great kitchen knife sticking out his shoulder and I couldn't stop laughing, it was so funny, and he just takes it out and we all watch the wound heal and he gives us this real serious look and just says, that was dangerous, that was, don't ever do it to me again.

So we didn't.

Instead we put nails in his bed.

And boy, he didn't like that.

I don't even realise I'm laughing at that until Patty asks me why. I turn and face, walking backwards.

And I grin and just say, "Tyki with holes in his back."

And she doesn't get it.

I can barely see her and Liz 'cuz it's getting so dark, they're just grey shapes behind me and they're walking even closer to us and I never noticed and I guess it's just 'cuz they're scared of getting left behind.

David says nothing, just stomps on. I look at him, remembering when he got angry and was so ready to kill Liz. I know he was, I saw it. And Liz didn't know, she just sat there staring and she was in trouble and she didn't know.

I laugh.

Patty does too.

Soon it's all dark all over, and it's properly night time, and that confuses me 'cuz it's only ever been night time out here when I'm inside and in bed and ready to go to sleep.

I'm ready to go to sleep now.

I _am_ tired.

"I'm tired," I hear Patty say behind me.

"I know," and I turn around and Liz is stroking Patty's hair real gentle like.

I wonder if that feels nice.

Patty sighs and snuggles against Liz like she's ready to go to sleep right there and then while she's walking. Liz hums a little song like what Road does sometimes, and I find that strange for some reason.

David's thoughts are going all hazy and I can tell he's even more tired than me. David sleeps a lot more than I do, I don't know why. Sometimes it's midnight and I'm still awake and he's not and I can see him asleep all curled up under the duvet in his bed. It's like he shrinks when he sleeps.

"I do not," he says.

"Do too," I tell him. "Like a kitty."

He hits me at that, but not really hard, and I laugh because I know he doesn't really mean it and it doesn't hurt anyway.

Ahead I can see lights.

I nudge David and he nudges me and we both look up at the yellow light we can see glowing through the trees like candles. I whoop and he does too and then I do a cartwheel 'cuz I can and 'cuz we're home, we're home, we're_ home_.

We step out from under the trees and there's the garden again, all just like it was before but darker and there's the house all big and black in the night 'cept for the lights coming from the windows. Someone's left the curtains open.

I turn around and Liz is right behind me with Patty and they're staring at the house like they've never seen one before and then Liz gawps at me and David and says, "This is where you _live?_"

David looks back at her. "Yeah. So?" 

"It's…it's huge! It's amazing!"

I look back at the house. It's big, but I never thought it was amazing. It's all old-looking and has curly patterns all over the roof and these stone monsters at the top which Tyki told me are called gar-goyles only then he laughed and said that one, that one right there, that one can be called Jasdero 'cuz it looks like you. I can see the Jasdero gargoyle now and it's laughing at me like it always is.

David shrugs. "The Boss likes comfortable stuff."

Patty's shivering. I didn't even realise it was cold, but it is, and as soon as I notice this my teeth start chattering. I quickly follow David and he's already halfway down the garden to the back door and banging on it real hard with his foot.

We all gather behind him and wait. Nothing happens. He spits angrily and kicks the door even harder, and shouts, "Oi, we want in!"

Finally the door opens, creaking because no one bothers to clean it, and I expect Tyki, or Skin, or Road or someone to be there but no, it's just a maid, one of the Boss' akuma. She looks at us, with empty eyes. "Lord Jasdevi."

"Took yer time, didn't you?" says David, pushing past her. She doesn't do nothing, just moves to one side all silently 'cuz the akuma are programmed to be polite to the Noah like that. Liz and Patty don't move and I don't either, which makes David stop and turn and look at me. "Come _on_, Jas."

I point at the girls. "What about them?"

"Can we come in? Please?" Liz whispers all shy to the akuma. Which is strange. Doesn't she know it's not a person?

"It can't hear you," sighs David, rolling his eyes, and it's true, the level one akuma we have in the house can only respond to us and the Earl, 'cuz he makes them special as maids and butlers and not as fighters.

"It?" asks Liz.

"You gonna stand there repeating me all day, or you coming in?" says David, and although Liz doesn't know it this is the closest he's come to being properly nice to a stranger.

I dance into the house, and Patty follows me, so Liz follows Patty. Then the door shuts and even though it's night it's not dark inside 'cuz David's just lit a candle and we go down the corridor and into the biggest sitting room to find Tyki and Road.

They're not there. I stare around the room and David does too, and I see the walls of massive bookshelves and the soft carpet and Tyki's favourite armchair and the pictures on the wall and the vases of flowers all over the shiny tables and there's no one in here.

David puts the candle on a table and snatches up a bit of paper. He reads it to me with his head.

'_Jasdevi_

_Don't know where you've gone, but pres - '_ here he stops, and frowns slightly 'cuz it's a hard word and neither of us can read so good.

' _- pree-zoo-mah-blee you'll be back soon. Something's come up and the Earl's taking me and Tyki and some akuma out to sea to sort some business out_.' David scowls at that, 'cuz we both know that 'business' probably means killing, and we like that, and they left without us. _'Won't be back 'til morning probably so try not to trash the house or anything. I mean it. Love, Road. PS: Lulubelle's coming too, and Skin's told me to tell you that the cake in the pantry is his and don't touch it because he wants to eat the rest when he comes home._'

I'm silent after David's finished. He screws the paper up and drops it on the floor.

"We got to…look after ourselves?" I say into the empty sitting room, and it doesn't say nothing back, just dust and empty and soft furniture. The house has never been so quiet.

Liz and Patty are waiting in the doorway, and their eyes are really wide in the dark. Patty yawns.

I yawn too.

David puts a hand on my shoulder and I look at him but I can't see him properly no more 'cuz I'm really tired now and my eyes won't stay all the way open.

He smiles at me. _Bedtime, Dero_.

I nod and shuffle out the room to the stairs.

I can feel Liz and Patty watching me all the way.


	3. Chapter 3 Welcome Home

**Liz**

Jasdero disappears onto the darkened landing and I hear the squeak of a door open and the click as it closes. In the sitting room, David stretches and yawns really loudly, opening his mouth way wider than necessary and sticking his tongue out like a dog.

Patty's leaning heavily on me, and it'll only be a matter of time before I have to _carry_ her to bed.

I feel miserable at that, because it reminds me of all the times when Patty's fallen asleep on the sofa, and Kidd helps me carry her upstairs.

Jasdero calls from upstairs. "I lost my toothbrush, Debi!" 

"It's in the bathtub," yells back David.

There's a silence, in which I shuffle into the living room because I feel a bit weird standing all exposed in the dark and open corridor.

"Found it, Debi."

I hold Patty up against me and stare all around the room. I'm used to grandeur, who wouldn't be, living in Death Mansion, but this is something else. It's not luxurious, despite being big. This room, the whole house, has a distinctly gothic feel. Like I've stepped back into the Victorian ages. Everything's thick dark velvet and stern, oversized furniture that could have come out of an antique shop.

David's watching me closely as I take in the surroundings. With his wild black hair and weirdly mismatched clothing, he couldn't look more out of place if he tried.

The walls are vertically striped, pale beige with thick, dark green lines. It gives the room a claustrophobic feel. I crane my neck upwards, and see the ceiling disappearing into shadowy darkness. The wall's covered with pictures, I suddenly notice. Literally covered, they reach almost up to the ceiling.

I move closer to them and examine a few, but it's hard in the feeble candlelight.

I half expect them all to be paintings, and some are, but there're loads of photos in there too, old grainy sepia ones. One big one looks like a family portrait, with a bunch of people gathered around this fat goblin thing wearing a top hat. I immediately pick out Jasdero and David, both looking kind of weird in suits. Jasdero has his hair tied up.

I look at the other people, thinking this is probably their family. There's a girl, shorter than everyone else and with boy-short hair to match, although she's so delicate and pixie-cute it kind of suits her. She's smiling prettily. Behind her there's a tall woman, with a really serious black fringe covering most of her forehead and eyes. Next to her there's this massive guy, looking grouchy and like his suit doesn't fit properly.

Patty's trying to look at the pictures too, but she's not as tall as me. She's gotten too heavy for me to lift, so she scrambles onto an armchair pushed against the wall. I look back at the photo again.

Behind David there's another guy, tall and very handsome. He's with another man, similar in height and features; I wonder briefly if they're brothers.

The strange thing about this photo is that it just doesn't look…_finished_. There's a feeling like not everyone's there. There's still space to fill. Maybe there are just family members missing.

If this is family. I realise that everyone in the photo has dark hair, except Jasdero. They've all got the same strange skin tone, but the resemblance ends there (unless you count the two men). I remember David telling us that he and Jasdero are twins, which seemed really weird, but seeing them both all tidied up and together in this picture, I can kind of see what he means.

I wonder who put those stitches on Jasdero's mouth, and why.

I turn around with half a mind to ask David this, but he's sitting in an armchair, and I think he's fallen asleep. Bored with waiting, I guess.

This leaves me with a bit of a problem, because I don't know where to go now. Patty's examining more photos next to me, but rubbing her eyes at the same time and every now and then glancing at me to see if it's bedtime yet.

I want to wake David up, because there's no one else here to help me, but I get the feeling that he's not the type who takes too kindly to being shaken awake. As I jig from one foot to the other, trying to decide what to do, Patty suddenly pulls at my elbow, pointing at a photo.

"Sis…sis!"

"What?" I turn and stand on tiptoe to get a look at it. At first, I don't see what's so special. The woman in it is blonde and not smiling. Blonde…I wonder if that's why Patty's pointed her out. Could she be Jasdero and David's…I don't know, _mother_ or something?

She's wearing dark lipstick and has a stern fringe that goes straight across her…oh…wait…I look back at the family photo.

No.

What?

It's the same woman.

It is, it really is.

I wouldn't find it so strange (I mean, hairdye must exist in this world, right?) except that it's not just her hair colour, her _skin_ tone is different.

Completely different.

How is that…how?

I shiver, and when I turn around, David's not asleep and he's looking at me. In the dying candlelight his hair disappears into the darkness of the chair, and his eyes seem to glow slightly, like a cat's.

Patty whines.

"You planning on sleeping here tonight?" he asks.

"Well, obviously," I snap, exhaustion making me cranky.

He stares at me some more (why do these two _stare_ so much?) and then leaps off the chair and strides out the door.

I follow, dragging Patty, who's surprisingly reluctant to leave the wall of photos.

David's already halfway up the massive carpeted staircase and I run to catch up to him.

Just in time, I see the edge of his coat whip around a door, and I pull it open.

This is Jasdero and David's room, I think. Patty wriggles under my arm and is already in there, pulling her shoes off and settling herself comfortably on the floor.

Boy, it's _messy_.

I have to step over a weird assortment of strange coloured balls to get into the room, and when I try and close the door, I have to kick one out the way.

Like every other room in this house, this _mansion_, their bedroom is big. It still looks crowded though. Pushed up against one wall, with an oversized window between them, are two four-poster beds, draped with identical black sheets. Jasdero's sitting on one, swinging his legs and brushing his teeth furiously. I've never seen so many toys in one area, because he has _loads_. Piled up taller than he is, all around his bed. Some are kind of cute, the sort of thing Patty has at home.

Some are downright _scary_, like the colossal bear with its entire face pulled apart, so half its head is hanging down to its lap.

Bits of discarded clothing litter the rest of the floor, a shirt here, a black jacket there. David kicks his way through this to another door on the right, which he opens to reveal an en-suite bathroom.

Swanky.

I hear a squawk and to my amazement, there's a _chicken_ in here, sitting on top of a massive wardrobe and…wearing a hat.

Okay…

Patty's noticed it too, and she waves briefly but she's already falling asleep. I glance around and see a velvet sofa next to the door. I shove a few piles of books, a great deal of dirty plates and cups and a few toys to the floor and heave Patty onto it. Jasdero watches me, the toothbrush handle sticking out from between the stitches.

I wonder if they hurt.

He does this incredible backwards somersault, lands on two feet and runs into the bathroom backwards, toothpaste and spit flying.

How can he be tired and still manage that?

A second later and he somersaults _back_ into the room, leaps into bed and snuggles between the sheets. It takes me a moment to realise that he's in some pale blue pyjamas now, and that thing he wore on his head is gone.

Weird.

It never occurred to me that he would be the type to _change _for bed.

He doesn't sleep though, just sits up there watching me intently, blonde hair spread all over his black pillow.

I'm not sure I'd like _black_ sheets.

David reappears, and he's in blue pyjamas too.

I smile, and he sees. "What?" he snaps. God, he's always _angry_ with me, isn't he?

"Nothing," I say, trying to hide my mouth with my hand. "It's just…you wear matching pyjamas."

Him and Jasdero exchange glances. "So what?"

"It's cute," I say, and start trying to find something to cover Patty with.

She's already asleep, snoring slightly.

Eventually I unearth what looks like one of David's coats and spread it over her, tucking the edges neatly underneath like I do every night. She giggles in her sleep and I see her arm curl slightly, automatically, around the space where her soft toy giraffe Gerald usually is.

It's amazing she's managed to fall asleep without him.

I sit on the floor and lean my head against Patty, feeling it rise and fall with the rhythm of her breathing. At last, she's safe and comfortable. That's all that matters.

The room's suddenly very silent. I glance over my shoulder. Jasdero's still sitting up and watching me, head tilted to one side. For a moment I wonder where David's gone, and then I see a small heap nestled in the other bed. It's breathing very slowly and I realise in amazement that he's already asleep.

That was fast.

Eventually I get to my feet and tiptoe over, because Jasdero's still looking at me like he's expecting something. I pull a stool up to the space between their beds - which is hard, since it's partly taken up by an end table with a lamp on it, and partly by a slithering heap of what looks like bullets.

He looks at me out of the dark, and I look back at him.

"You love Patty very much," he says really quietly, and I think he doesn't want to wake David.

I swallow. "Yeah." He tilts his head to the side. I smile nervously. "Do you…do you love David, Jasdero?"

He shrugs. "He's my bro."

I look over to the other bed. David's curled up real small, and I can see his face and he's frowning slightly, even in his sleep.

I remember that moment when he thought Jasdero was dead.

All he's done since we met is shout at me, and swear at Patty, and threaten us, but I suddenly feel so sorry for him. It's like all he has in this world is Jasdero.

I barely know them, but I get the feeling that I'm right. I can tell, from the way they act together, and know everything about each other. It's just like me and Patty.

Jasdero yawns and lies down, but still with his eyes on me. "Who's Kidd?"

Again, he surprises me. I guess he's more observant than I thought, to remember that.

"I told you," I say, my voice catching. "He's my friend."

But Jasdero's still watching me, and I don't think he believes me.

"He's all I've got apart from Patty," I whisper into the dark. "All I've got."

I can't really see Jasdero's face any more, just his blonde hair. "All I got is Debitto."

Again I gulp. "Well, that's something, isn't it?" 

"Yeah," and I can hear the smile in his voice. "He's the best, David is."

Jasdero's blanket and sheets are all over the place. He's just kind of thrown himself in among them and hoped for the best. Slowly I stand up, and carefully reach over. I rearrange them around him, tucking the edges in just like with Patty.

He stares at me again, in fascination.

It's embarrassing, so I withdraw quickly and scuttle away, back to Patty.

"Goodnight, _Elizabeth_," he calls across the room.

I turn.

"Goodnight, Dero." I say.

Just before I settle down on the other couch in the room, I could have sworn I heard him laugh.

***

**Patty**

I like sleeping in because my bed's always real comfortable and warm, 'specially on weekends. But I wake up real early today, and it takes me a moment to work out why.

I open my eyes, and then I shut them quick. Why's it so bright? Why am I awake?

I wriggle slightly. My bed's not comfy. And Gerald's gone.

I open my eyes a teeny bit and everything's blurry and there's this bright white light which means I can't see nothing. I yawn 'cuz I'm still sort of tired and rub my eyes.

Now I can see a bit better. I don't recognize anything in this room. It's tall and big and there's loads of stuff everywhere, but I still don't know where I am. My butt itches, so I wriggle again. The thing that's covering me, it's not my blanket, it's not all warm and soft like my blanket. It's heavy and cold and smells kind of funny, like the time I left the ice cream out on the table and we all forgot and then we remembered a few days later and it was all yucky.

I sit up, and the thing falls off me. It's someone's coat. I push it aside and get up.

Oh, _that's_ what woke me up. There's a really big window, but it's got no curtains. So all the morning light's coming in.

I remember my curtains at home.

They're blue. With giraffes on them. Kidd had them made special for me.

And he said to Liz, he said you can have some too, and she said no thanks I'll just have boring grey curtains 'cuz she was in a bad mood that day, and he shrugged and said okay.

And then next week he came into her room and just gave her these big soft velvet curtains in dark blue covered with goldy spangles like stars and said here.

And she didn't know what to say.

She does that a lot with Kidd.

Why is it so quiet in here?

And where's Liz? _Where is she?_

I turn around. Oh, she's there, asleep on another sofa.

There's nothing covering her. Didn't anyone tuck her in?

I pick up the coat and put it over her 'cuz she's looking cold. Her boots, just like mine, are sitting next to her, and I can see her feet, she's wearing odd socks and one's blue and green stripy and the other's just plain white.

I look at my feet. My socks are pink.

"Bwark?" Hey, look, it's that chicken again. I run over to the wardrobe quick in case it runs away, because you never know, and I want it to come down and play 'cuz I've never had a pet before. It sits there and stares at me, and it's wearing a really big hat and I wonder why would anyone give a chicken a hat?

Someone makes a funny, "mneh, mneh," noise on the other side of the room, and I remember that we're staying with our new friends and they're still asleep so I tiptoe over real quiet.

I stroke the duvet of one of the beds 'cuz it's real soft and smooth, and _I_ want a bed like that.

I can see hair sticking out over the top of one of the duvet covers. It's long and blonde and really messy.

Jasdero's got hair just like Liz, but hers is much prettier obviously.

I look at the other bed. The other boy, this David, he's just completely disappeared under the covers and I can't see him at all.

I do that sometimes. I remember once I woke up and I thought I'd been eaten by a monster and I screamed and screamed and Kidd and Liz both came running and then everything was okay again.

I bend down and try and lift the corner of his blanket 'cuz I can't remember what he looks like.

But he must have wound it around himself real tight because it doesn't move.

I pull a bit harder and this time I manage to lift the cover up and it's really warm under there and it's so cold out here and that's not fair, is it?

"Helloooo?" I say, in case he's awake.

He wasn't, but he is now.

"Wha - "

I can't see anything at first 'cuz it's so bright out here and so dark under his duvet and it's black and I think, why black?

He sticks his head out at me, and I laugh at him 'cuz his hair is all over the place, and I just remembered what he looked like.

He looks _mad_.

"What the hell, man?"

"Good morning!" I tell him, in case he doesn't realise it's time to get up, because I'm awake.

"You - !" And here he uses a really bad word that I know is bad because Black Star taught it to me and I used it once and Liz told me off and she never usually does that and she's told me never to use it again.

"When's breakfast?" I ask, since I'm getting kind of hungry.

He glares at me all cross, and his eyes are just like Kidd's. "No breakfast for you." And just like that he pulls the covers away from me and disappears under them again.

"That's mean," I tell him.

I hope he doesn't mean it.

I turn around and the other guy is still asleep, I can hear him snoring, he kind of breathes in and then out with a sort of _chuchuchu_ noise like a mouse.

Liz is still asleep as well. She snores but much louder, but I've never told her this because Kidd tried to tell her once and she got all cross like she didn't believe him.

She _does_ snore.

I wander around the room some more, 'cuz it's actually a real nice room, there's loads of interesting stuff. I pick up a stuffed animal off the floor and I'm turning it my hands and trying to work out what it's meant to be, is it a cat? And there's a zip on it's tummy so I open it and loads of empty glass bottles the size of my pinkie fall out.

I wonder what they're for.

The chicken's watching me again but when I try and talk to it, it turns around so I can see its bottom (which makes me laugh) and doesn't want to come down.

Eventually I get bored so I go over to Liz and poke her.

She groans.

I poke her again.

"Mmm…not now, Patty…" she mutters, all sleepy.

"I'm not Patty," I say in a deep voice. "It's me Kidd."

"Go away, Kidd," she says and so I shake her until she opens her eyes and sits up at last.

"Good morning, sis." She blinks in the bright light.

"Hey, Patty." She stretches and yawns. "What're you doing in here?"

"We're not at home," I hafta remind her. And she looks scared as she remembers.

I think that, like me, she was hoping to wake up and be back home.

"Oh." She gets to her feet, and I hug her because she's so tall and beautiful and amazing and nothing ever hurts me when she's there. She hugs me back which makes me happy and then she's walking carefully across the room to another door.

She opens it. "I think this is a bathroom."

I shrug and pick up a ball. I drop it. It bounces.

_I _want a room full of bouncy balls.

***

**David**

I slept kind of well, until that stupid _cow_, that idiot Patty, she woke me up, all right, and I _like_ having a lie-in.

And once she'd woken me up, I couldn't get back to sleep again.

So I lie there, under the covers, where's it really black and warm, and listen. I can hear Liz getting up and she's mumbling something to Patty, who says something back.

Damn.

I was _so_ hoping to wake up and find they were gone. I lie where I am for a bit longer because I don't want to have to get up and face them, and besides, it's cold out there and warm here.

Suddenly, though, there's this massive scream, and it makes me jump about a foot in the air.

So I fling the covers off - trying to ignore the cold - and jump out of bed to get angry at whoever it was that screamed.

Patty's standing frozen in the middle of the room and for once she says nothing but looks at me with massive eyes, so I ignore her.

Liz screams again, long and _loud_. It makes me wince and I cover my ears. Where the hell is she?

The door to our bathroom bursts open and she tumbles into the room, screaming.

Patty's at her side in an instant, and Liz is blubbering like a baby, and grabbing Patty and holding her close and Patty's pushing her sister off, trying to get into the bathroom to see, and Liz shakes her head violently and actually _drags_ Patty away from the door.

I scratch my neck and wonder what's going on.

It's hard to think when I'm only half awake.

Liz starts gibbering at me, and so I close my eyes and put my fingers in my ears 'til she shuts up.

"David!" She grabs my arm.

"God _dammit_ woman, what the fuck is wrong with you?"

She points at the bathroom and I see that her arm's trembling.

"In the….in the…bath…." and her voice has gone all small.

I screw my face up, trying to stop feeling sleepy and at the same time trying to remember what's in the bathroom.

Oh yeah.

I shuffle over and push the door open. Behind me I hear Patty struggling with her sister, but Liz says, _"No, _Patty," real firm and shoves her onto the sofa.

Guess she doesn't want her seeing.

I like our bathroom, it's not too big and there's a sink and a toilet and a bath with a shower and everything. It doesn't look any different to me, there's the sink with our toothbrushes and the toothpaste, and I see Jasdero's squeezed it too hard _again_ so there's toothpaste everywhere, and there are towels all over the floor, and there's the bath with its curtain shoved to one side, and there are bloodstains all up the wall.

Nothing different.

Liz peers over my head - god, she's tall - and I look up at her. "What's the matter?"

She points at the blood.

I shrug. "So what?"

"So what?" she shrieks. "That's…there's….so much of it!"

She's right. The bathtub itself is so stained, it looks like the inside's been sprayed brownish-red. The rest of the blood splatters all up the tiled wall, even onto the ceiling.

I guess it's a bit weird.

"What's it from?" she says all quiet like.

I turn around and shove her out the way so I can get out of the bathroom. "Some guy."

And she stares at me. "Some…you mean…like, a person?"

"Slow, aren't you?" I mutter, and I start looking for my clothes.

"But…but…You…"

"Me, me, or me and Jas?" I ask, and I think that's my shirt on the floor, but it might be one of Dero's.

"You killed someone?" she asks.

"So what?" I say again. Yeah, it's my shirt.

Her voice rises again. "But…it…it looks like they _exploded_ or something!" 

I grin as I remember. "Yeah, it was kind of messy."

"That's sick!" And she's yelling at me, waving her arms around. "That's so disgusting! I can't believe…I can't believe that you…you…"

Jasdero goes, "Mmph," and sits up, rubbing one eye. "Morning, Debi."

"Morning, Jas."

Liz is hugging Patty tight, and Patty's looking really confused 'cuz she doesn't know what's going on. "Are you…are you going to kill us?" Liz asks, and she's scared again.

"Debitto?" Jasdero's looking at me, confused and asking me what's going on in my thoughts.

"Nothing, Jas," I say, and pull my pyjama top over my head. "We might," I add, answering Liz's question. "Not yet though."

"No," echoes Jas, and he's staring at Patty. "Not yet."

I put my shirt on, but it's inside out, so I have to take it off again and that pisses me off.

Jasdero's already wriggling into his clothes and then he looks at me, and says, "I'm hungry, David."

"Me too. Let's get breakfast."

"Can I - " And Patty stops, and I think I've scared her a bit because I've never heard her not finish a sentence like that before.

I look at her, my pyjamas in my hands.

I look at Liz, who's _still_ shaking.

I sigh.

"Okay. Fine."

I throw my pyjamas on the floor and I walk out the room real quick so they don't have time to say anything else.

***

**Jasdero**

David's already gone and I run after him 'cuz we always have breakfast together. Patty's running after _me, _but she's kind of having trouble moving fast because Liz is still holding her real tight and Liz doesn't seem so keen to follow.

I pass an akuma as I go down the stairs, hop, hop, two at a time, and it bows to me and goes, "Good morning, Master Jasdero."

I push it out the way and slide down the banisters the rest of the way 'cuz I like to do that, it's fun.

The pantry door's open and I run in and David's sitting on the cupboards going through the top shelves trying to find something to eat. I guess Road and the others aren't home yet.

There's not a lot of room in the pantry, it's just a cold room with a red tile floor and cupboards and shelves everywhere, so I copy David and climb onto the cupboard surface next to him.

He nudges me and shows me a jar of strawberry jam.

We both like jam, but not strawberry.

I shrug, and take it off him and try and get the lid off but it's stuck, it's wound real tight, and I think it's 'cuz Skin used the jam last and he always puts the lid on too tight 'cuz he's real strong.

David's found a pot of sugar and he sticks a finger in and licks it off, and I copy him, but it's not really breakfast, I want something bigger, and for once I wish the Earl was here, he can make really good breakfasts.

"Huh," grunts David, and shuts the cupboard. "No milk left."

He shuffles along to the next one and I hear him rattling a few jars and I think it sounds just like the little bell Road has in her room for when she wants tea.

I look down and I've already eaten half the sugar, so I put it back quietly in case anyone's noticed.

Liz and Patty suddenly appear in the doorway, and Patty smiles at me.

I blink, and then I smile back.

"I want breakfast," she says.

"Hush, Patty," says Liz.

"I won't hurt you," I tell her, 'cuz I think she's still scared. She looks at me, and she looks at David, who's got his back to her and is digging through the cupboards.

 "David won't either," I tell her, and she doesn't look like she believes me.

"Hey, Jas, check it out." David leans out and he's got a plate of cake, and I laugh and I see a little note pinned to it.

We both lean in to read it and so we bash our heads and go "ow," at the same time.

_Jasdevi_

_This is my cake. MY cake. Touch it and I will hurt you so bad that you'll wish your whore of a mother never met your bastardized dad. I mean it. I will break your backs and throw you down the stairs. I will pull your entrails out through your noses. I will - _

We stop reading there, 'cuz Skin's always like that to us, and it's all the same, and they're always empty threats, he'd never be able to do any of that.

David pulls a big chunk of the cake off and stuffs it in his mouth. I take lots of little bits and eat them one by one.

He gives me the cake plate and I put it in my lap and start picking the cherries off the top one by one. I offer one to Patty, and she swallows it whole. I offer one to Liz, who ignores me.

David takes another, smaller jam jar out, opens it and starts eating blackcurrant jelly with a spoon. Liz looks disgusted, and he glares back at her. "What?" he says, and I laugh at that, 'cuz his mouth is full and he can't talk properly, like all his teeth turned to wool.

"_That's_ your breakfast?" she says, pointing at his jam and my cake. We both nod. She sighs and pushes past Patty, shoves me out the way and starts digging through the cupboards.

"Hey!" David jumps off the cupboard just in time to stop her bashing his head as she opens a door and pulls out a basket of eggs. I blink. I_ love_ eggs, but I don't know how to make them. David does. Well, sort of. He drops them in the pan and we both watch them go splat, and that's about it.

Liz has found the bacon too and some bread and she looks at us. "Where's the kitchen?"

David glowers at her. "We don't go to the kitchen. That's for the _akuma_." She looks blank. "What? Where d'you do cooking then?"

"Sometimes Road makes toast on the fire, hee!" I say, and Patty takes the bit of cake I was holding out of my hand and eats it.

"Show me," says Liz and she sounds real bossy when she says that, but maybe it will be nice having a proper breakfast for a change. I look at David and I see he's thinking it too, so we both nod and start trying to squeeze out of the pantry at the same time. Liz tries to stop me but her arms are full of bacon and eggs and bread. "Oi, you. Put the cake down."

I look at her, and then at the cake plate. It's so yummy…But I do as she says, 'cuz I am actually starting to get a bit of a tummy ache.

She nods at David. "You too, jam down."

He scowls. "No."

"You can't eat jam for breakfast, it's unhealthy," she says.

"Leave me alone," but his mouth is full and it comes out funny again, and I laugh and he just marches out without looking at her, still holding the jam.

She sighs and follows him.

I look at Patty.

She looks at me, curiously.

I wait for her to follow Liz.

She pushes me out and follows me.


	4. Chapter 4 A Disturbed Breakfast

**Liz**

I feel a bit irritated as I follow David down the corridor. I mean, I can barely hold all this stuff by myself, and he's walking pretty fast, like he wants to get away from us or something. I half expect him to take me back into the living room we saw the night before, but he walks right past it and down another corridor.

It's covered with more portraits and photos. I try and look at them as we past, but it's nearly impossible since they're all so grainy and high up. Every now and then I turn to make sure Patty's following me, and she is, pushing Jasdero along and chattering to him excitedly.

He just looks a bit bemused.

David shoves a door open and waits for me to go in. I do, carefully, since I don't want to drop any eggs.

I like this room a lot more. It's smaller and cosier, with a soft rose-patterned carpet and floral wallpaper. A big golden chandelier dominates the ceiling, and a handful of plush armchairs are scattered around the fireplace. A big mirror's hanging over it, facing the door, and I can see myself in it.

I blink. There's a big smudge of soot on my cheek. I wonder why no one _told_ me.

To my surprise, the fire's already lit. Must have been that strange maid who did it. I don't like the staff I've seen in this house. They've got such blank faces, some have no eyes, and they've all got this weird star tattooed on their foreheads. It reminds me of cattle, and people branding them.

Jasdero appears at my side and points. "Fire."

"Okay, thank you."

He and David both watch me intently as I put all the food down by the hearthrug and start looking for something to cook with. Hanging directly below the mantelpiece there's a bunch of metal tools - tongs, a few lethal-looking pokers and a couple of frying pans with long handles. I unhook one and behind me Jasdero makes a questioning sound, head tilted to the right.

David shrugs.

I'm getting better at recognising this mind-reading thing.

The fire's conveniently got a metal grate set over it, perfect for balancing the frying pan on. It occurs to me that it's probably made to do this, but no one's ever used it in this way before. Patty crouches next to me and starts peeling slices of bacon apart and lying them onto the pan.

She helps me a lot at home.

I'm usually helping Kidd.

I've never been a crack hand at cooking, but I got to admit that Kidd does know his stuff. By watching and helping him, I think I've started to get the hang of it. At least, I can do breakfasts now, and even manage pasta and rice, but I can't do baking.

Next to me, Patty's clutching the handle of the pan, eyes fixed on the bacon that's now sizzling amongst the flames. It smells _good_. I'm suddenly reminded of how hungry I am.

Jasdero slides off his chair and shuffles towards us on his knees. I move away a little bit, because he's looking hungry too, and it makes him look more than a little bit scary.

He squats next to Patty and copies her, staring at the bacon as it curls and drips in the heat.

Happy to leave the pair of them in charge of the bacon, I start counting the eggs in the basket I've got, thinking how weird it is that they're not in a normal cardboard carton like we buy them in Death City.

I turn to David, meaning to ask him how many eggs he wants, but before I can even open my mouth he jumps off the chair and stalks over to the other side of the room.

I stare after him, slightly hurt. Does he really hate me that much?

But he's walked over to a big wooden cupboard, all mahogany and crystal. As I watch, he opens the bottom door and bends down, and I hear the clink of china. A second later, he turns around and slouches back to the fireplace, and thrusts a pile of plates at me.

I blink and smile at him. "Thank you, David."

He doesn't say anything, but slumps back in the chair and starts sulkily sucking the jam spoon.

I put the plates on the floor, and Jasdero looks at them. "But Debi, they're Road's plates!"

"She's not here, is she?"

"Who's Road?" says Patty curiously. I bend over her quickly and yank the frying pan out of the flames, saving the bacon just in time. Jasdero leans close, and tries to pick a piece off, so I slap his hand away and shake my head. "It's hot, Jasdero. You'll burn yourself."

He laughs at that, and I frown at him, because it's not like I said anything funny. Carefully I slide all the slices of bacon onto one of the plates.

"Who's Road?" asks Patty again, more insistently and staring hard at David.

"She's no one," he says indifferently, scraping out the inside of the jam jar.

"She's our friend," says Jasdero, but he frowns as he says this, like he's not quite sure of that. "No she's not, she's our sister."

"Really?" I say in surprise.

"Not really," mutters David. "Like a…step-sister."

"Bigger, or smaller?" asks Patty.

"Both," says Jasdero. I think he might be slightly wrong in the head and he doesn't really know what he's saying, so I ignore this last comment. Instead, I start counting eggs again.

Patty's watching. "I want three, Liz!"

"Okay."

"I want four," says Jasdero.

David doesn't say anything. It's starting to annoy me. I wonder if he's just being difficult on purpose.

Jasdero looks at him, and then at me. "Debitto says he wants four too, Liz."

I glance sideways at him, but he's staring at the jam again. I shrug, whatever. "Okay then."

Something occurs to me as I crack the eggs and listen to them hiss and sizzle. "Hey, Jasdero, David,"

"What?" they both say, at exactly the same time.

"Why don't you have a fridge in this house?" I ask, watching the eggs wobble amongst the flames.

David stares at me like I've spoken in another language. "A _what_?"

I stare back. "You know. A fridge."

He looks at Jasdero, and Jasdero shrugs. And, what the hell? A smile slowly starts to build up on David's lips. "So what's that, like some kind of animal or something?" He sniggers as he says this.

Are they messing with me? "No," I snap. "You must know what a _fridge_ is, honestly."

"Nope," he says, biting down on the spoon. "What is it?"

I look at Jasdero, in case they really are having me on. He gazes back expectantly. Patty giggles. "They've never seen a fridge, sis!" She pushes me out of the way and sits down next to Jasdero, David in his chair on her other side. I guess she likes being the smarter one for a change.

"A fridge," says Patty, in a funny serious voice that doesn't really suit her. "Is a magic box."

After a silence, David glances at me, looking for some kind of further explanation. I duck down quickly so he can't see my smile, and start dividing the bacon between four plates.

"Why's it magic?" demands Jasdero.

"Because it's always full of food," says Patty. She stretches her arms wide, above her head. "It's thiiiis big and it's white and has two doors and when you open it a little light comes on and it makes a humming sound."

David and Jasdero look fascinated. "Why?"

"Because," says Patty firmly. "And it's also magic because it's cold inside, even when it's really hot outside and it keeps things like ice cream and yoghurt and cheese cold."

Jasdero looks amazed. "Really?"

"Yeah!"

But David is slightly less convinced. "How come it's always full of food?"

"Because it's _magic,_ silly," says Patty impatiently.

I start to tell her that actually, it's because me and Kidd go to the shops every weekend, but I stop myself. Why spoil her fun?

Suddenly I notice the eggs are ready. Carefully, so I don't break any of them, I pull the frying pan out of the fire and start poking them onto plates.

Patty watches closely, counting them. "Hey, there's two missing."

"No there's not," I say, passing Jasdero his plate. He looks delighted.

"Yeah," says Patty, and starts counting on her fingers. "Three for me, and four for him and four for - " here she stops because she runs out of fingers. "And only one for you."

"I'm okay with one," I tell her and she looks indignant. "But you'll get hungry, sis!"

"I _won't_," I say firmly, and start passing the bread around. I want somewhere to sit down, and after some hesitation I take the armchair next to David's. Jasdero stays on the floor with Patty, dipping his fingers in the egg yolk and licking them.

God, who _raised_ these two?

*******

**David**

I hate to admit it, but this food is _good_. I can't remember the last time me and Jas had a proper hot breakfast. Liz offers me the bread and I snatch it off her, and start tearing bits off 'cuz we don't have a bread knife.

Jasdero starts picking his bacon apart with his fingers so he can fit it in his mouth, and Liz makes a sick face, like he's being disgusting. She's such a fusspot.

Patty slurps a bit of egg off her bread and gazes at me, her eyes are really big and really blue. "Have you really never seen a fridge?"

Can't she drop that? "So what?" I say, and I lick my fingers because I've gotten grease all over them and it tastes really nice.

"What about a _car_?" she says.

"A what?" I ask before I can stop myself.

Liz and Patty exchange glances.

"It's like a metal thing with wheels," says Liz.

"We've got one of them," says Jasdero. "Only ours is made of wood and I pull it along."

"The Boss has one too, and he sometimes uses horses," I explain. Liz's face lights up. "Oh, you mean a cart."

"Isn't that the same thing?" I say, and I'm trying to work out how to eat this last egg without getting yolk all over my hands like I did with the last three.

"No," says Liz. "A _car_ doesn't need a horse - "

"Or a Dero!" interrupts Jasdero.

" - or a Jasdero, to pull it along. It goes all by itself. Vroom." She makes a sweeping motion with her arm to demonstrate. I frown. That makes no bloody sense. How the hell can it move if there's nothing pulling it? But I don't say this, because otherwise they'll both stare at me, and I don't like that 'cuz it makes me feel like I'm stupid.

"Have you got _exorcists_ in your world?" asks Jasdero, licking his plate clean.

"I…don't think so," says Liz slowly, and I feel much happier at that, see, there _are_ things she doesn't know, we're not the stupid ones here.

"Or Innocence?" I ask.

She frowns. "I'm guessing you're not meaning the normal, everyday type."

"I dunno."

Jasdero wipes his mouth on his arm. "Exorcists are bad people."

"We've got witches," says Liz doubtfully. "Do exorcists have magic?"

"Sort of," I explain, and although I don't really like her very much I do like being smarter than her for a change. "They've got Innocence which makes them stronger and so they can fight us."

"And the akuma," says Jas.

"What're they?" asks Patty hugging her knees and rocking back and forth like Jasdero does sometimes.

"The Boss makes them, and they fight for us," says Jasdero. "And it means we can kill exorcists, hee!"

"Which is _fun_," I add. Because it _is_.

"You…_like_ killing?" says Liz all quiet, and I don't look at her because I know she'll be scared again, and that pisses me off.

"Yeah!" says Jasdero.

"We kill _Kishin_, sis," says Patty. I wonder what a _kishin_ is.

"But that's not for _fun_, Patty," says Liz, and she's stopped eating, and I wonder, does she really want that last bit of bacon 'cuz I'm still hungry and it does look good. "We kill them because they're bad."

This conversation is starting to confuse me. And Jasdero. "But we're _allowed_ to kill exorcists, the Boss says so," he whines.

"We kill _kishin_ because they're evil," says Liz firmly, like that's all there is to it, and to my disappointment she wolfs down the bacon. A though strikes me.

"What do the _kishin_ want?" I ask.

Liz wipes her mouth and shrugs. "You know, the usual bad-guy stuff. Ruling the world and so on."

I fall silent.

"That's what the Boss wants," says Jasdero kind of quietly, because he's thinking hard at the same time, and thinking and talking together is hard for him. "He says, we've got to kill all exorcists so that we can destroy the Innocence, and then we'll be able to own the world."

I sit up, 'cuz I've just got it. "_We're_ the bad guys."

"_We're_ not," says Liz firmly, indicating her and Patty.

"How d'you know?" I demand, 'cuz how does she really, how does anyone know if they're right or wrong?

"Because we _save_ people," snaps Liz, all cranky.

"Death Gods," says Jasdero suddenly.

We all stare at him.

He shrugs and points at Liz. "You said, yesterday, something about them."

God, how does he _remember_ stuff like that?

Liz looks kind of startled too. "Uh, yeah, I did."

"Kiddy-kun is a Shinigami," giggles Patty, sticking her finger up her nose.

"Shinigami aren't real," I sneer, 'cuz they aren't, they're stories, aren't they?

"They are in _our_ world," sniffs Liz all snootily. "So there."

"But if he's a Death God," insists Jasdero, and I can see he's looking all proud because he thinks he's found a loophole in Liz's good-guy-bad-guy argument. "Then he must be a bad guy."

"Be quiet," snaps Liz, and she stands up real suddenly, snatching up the basket of eggs. "I'm going to put these away."

We all watch her storm out of the room, and she's refusing to look at any of us, and that's probably because she _knows_ that Jasdero's right sort of. That feels good. We've proved her wrong.

"Know what, Jas?" I say, watching her go.

"What, Debi?"

I grin at him. "I _like_ being the bad guy."

Patty throws an eggshell into the fire. "You've reeeaallly done it now!"

"How come?"

"You called Kidd _bad_," she chuckles - why does she find every bloody thing funny? - and starts plaiting Jasdero's hair. "Liz will hate you forever and ever now."

"Forever and ever," echoes Jasdero, and goes quiet while she twists his hair into a long braid. I wonder why he's letting her. He usually hates it when Road tries to play with his hair. This one time she chased him all over the house with a hairbrush and I ended up having to rescue him.

He wore a hat for two weeks after that.

Patty half-hums a tune to herself, and suddenly starts giggling at something.

What is _up_ with her?

***

**Liz**

I kick the pantry door open a lot harder than I intended, and it bashes the wall hard, making the jars rattle in their shelves. I'm okay, I'm okay…

Carefully I put the eggs down, and they jump about a bit and I realise that I've slammed the basket down a bit too hard. Sheesh…I've got to get a grip. I put my hands on the wall and press my forehead against the cool brickwork; I can feel my shoulders shaking.

'_He must be a bad guy.'_

I don't know what rules they follow here, in this crazy other world, but where I come from, Shinigami are _good_. They're good people. They do what's _right_.

But as I think that, I remember Shinigami, and his murky past. All those hours Kidd wasted by himself, just to figure out what his father was up to. What kind of person would hide secrets from his own son? What kind of _secrets _was he hiding?

I thump my fists against the wall. Would Kidd grow up like that? Was I doomed to watch as he descended into the hierarchy of lies and secrets his father had established around himself?

'_Death God…'_

I hate that. I hate it when people call him that. It sounds so…_bad_, labelling him and making it sound like he's…he's a _bringer _of Death.

The Grim Reaper.

"Oi, Liz." That's David's voice, isn't it? I hear him move about outside in the corridor, and then the pantry door flies open, and he's standing there with one foot in the air, scowling at me.

I glare back. "What?"

"Patty's asking where you are," he snaps, and I can tell he's kind of pissed that she made _him _come find me. Patty…She's never bothered by anything.

"Dammit!" Again I bang my fists on the wall, and I don't care that David's watching, or that I look slightly insane, standing there in the dark and staring at a stupid brick wall.

"Huh." Just like that he turns and saunters off with his hands in his pockets, and I get angry because he just doesn't care, does he?

"You stupid - !" I run after him and yank him back by one shoulder really hard, because I'm pissed off. He jerks out of my reach and smacks my hand away. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I want to go home!" I shout, and I stab my finger desperately into my chest. "This isn't where I'm supposed to be! I want to go home, I want to see Kidd!"

"Like I can do anything about it," he snarls back, rubbing his shoulder. "It's your own fault! You must have done something wrong to end up in the _wrong fucking universe_!"

Stupid, stupid, _stuuupid!_ I grab the front of his oversized coat and lift him bodily off the floor, and even he looks a little shocked. "I never did anything wrong!" I scream right into his face. "I don't care if I'm _supposed_ to be here, or I was brought here or _anything!_ I don't give a damn about what's _right_, I just want my old life back!"

"…David?" We both look around quickly and see Jasdero and Patty leaning out of the sitting room, both looking at us wide-eyed. David rolls his eyes at Jasdero. "Nothing, Jas. She's just being bitchy."

He just _doesn't get it!_ I throw him onto the floor and storm over to Patty, dragging her away from Jasdero. "You get away from him, Patty." She stares at me. I hold her tight - I'm not letting anyone touch her, I may have lost Kidd but goddammit I'm not losing her - and try to stop shaking. "I'm going to get us home Patty, I am."

"Standing around shouting is really going to help, isn't - " David's cut off by an enormous _boom_ from outside. We all jump about a foot in the air, and Jasdero swings around to the living room window. "What was that, Debi?"

David doesn't reply, but dashes over to the window and rips the curtains down. We all stare at a chaotic scene of smoke and dust and fiery skies. The tops of the trees blaze, spewing thick black smog into the already cloudy sky. Patty struggles out of my slackened grip and follows Jasdero to the windowsill, staring out in amazement. "Sis, sis! Look, a _kishin_!"

"What?" I run over, just in case…what if we're somehow…home?

Angrily David slaps her out of the way - I forget to get angry at him - and pulls his gun out of his pocket. "Shut it, idiot. That's an akuma."

"David, David! What if the Earl's coming home?" shouts Jasdero, jumping and down, whether from excitement or fear I can't tell.

"I don't know," David yells back over another explosion, and the windowpanes tremble in their frames. I see the akuma rise over the trees, and another follows it, and they look like overgrown flying pineapples or something, only covered with cannons. They angle them all downwards and there's another rain of explosions and fire.

"C'mon, Jas," says David, and wrenches the window open. Together they struggle through and I watch the brothers sprint across the soot-stained lawn, guns flashing red under the explosion-ridden sky.

I stare at the sky, and see another figure appear in the sky - is it an akuma? It looks nothing like the others…the closest thing I've ever seen to it is the Pharaoh Kidd, Patty and I fought once, all that time ago. The…thing soars high - how the hell can it fly? - suddenly dives downwards, disappearing into a cloud of smoke that billows from the trees.

Patty's pulling urgently at my elbow. "_Liz!_"

"What?" I shake my head to clear it and meet her eyes.

"Those explosions," she says, pointing out the open window. "What if they can get us home?"

"Don't be silly Patty, that's - " My words are cut off by another explosion, and an akuma rises above the trees. To my amazement, a blur of white light follows it, and with an ear-splitting shriek the akuma splits neatly in two and…explodes into nothingness.

"What the hell was _that?"_ I gasp.

Suddenly there's a burst of flame, and I can hear David shouting faintly from the trees.

"Yah! Take that, exorcist!"

Someone screams, the fire rears up and twists like a dragon - and disappears.

I shiver and draw back from the window, because I don't want to get dragged into that battle, no way.

"Argh!" There's an explosion, and I see a tiny doll-like figure fly up into the air, blonde hair flying and - it's Jasdero.

He disappears quickly into the trees once more, and Patty squeals at the window, hands pressed to her mouth. "Liz! Liz, we gotta go out there!"

"We can't!" I cry, and I start shaking my hands about because we _can't_, I can't, I don't want to die! I don't want to die _here_, away from home, and - away from Kidd.

Patty leaps down from the windowsill and takes my hands, and she's pulling me over, and her face is really determined, it's breaking my heart.

"What if they're hurt, sis?" she asks, all serious.

"They aren't," and I don't think I quite believe myself.

"They _helped_ us, sis!" Patty shouts at me. She's _shouting _at me! It shakes me up.

I hang my head. I feel terrible. "I know, Patty." I wrap my arms around myself, partly because the room's getting cold from the open window, and partly because I'm shaking like a freakin' baby. "But can't you _see_ what's going on out there? We'd be killed!"

Patty stares at me, and then her face softens into that wonderful smile I love so much. She holds her hand out to me, and I'm staring at it like a dumbass. Very slowly I put my fingers in her palm. I know it so well; she clings to me all the time.

I cling to her hand.

"What if _I_ do all the dangerous stuff?" she asks simply.

"I can't let you do that."

There's another explosion. Patty shuts her eyes. "Please, sis."

This isn't a decision I can make lightly, so I take a big breath before I do. "Okay, Patty."

I transform for her, she snatches me up and together we head out into the battle.


	5. Chapter 5 Meet the Family

**Jasdero**

There's an explosion, and the whole forest goes all bright and white for a second and afterwards I can't see like when I look at the sun for too long. I can't feel anything either, not after I got thrown in the air like that. My tummy felt funny like the time I fell down the stairs, and now I'm lying in a tree, and I can feel my hair hanging to the ground and all the blood's going to my brain and I _think_ I'm upside-down but I'm not sure.

My arm hurts.

_Jasdero! Jasdero! _

David!

_I'm here! Here, Debi!_

He's far away, I can tell. I guess that last explosion separated us. I wriggle my fingers, and - ow - they _hurt_. Where's my gun? I can't feel it in my hand and I can't see if it's in my pocket but I don't think it is.

I try and move but my legs are all tangled in the branches and my arm hurts too much. When I shift it, it hurts so much that I start crying. And I see my tears are falling _up_, but they're not falling into the sky, they're falling into the grass, and that's how I know I'm upside-down after all.

_Jasdero!_

"David!" I shout, in case he can hear but I don't think he can. Somewhere overhead an akuma dives downwards and I can hear it scream as the exorcists take it down.

Why are they here? Why now? It was one of them that threw me into this tree, I saw him. I don't know how many there are, or what they're doing here.

Where's the Boss? He'd get rid of them in a second, he would.

I sniff. My arm's hurting a lot more, and I think my neck's bleeding.

_Jasdero!_

"Jasdero!"

I open my eyes, 'cuz that really doesn't sound like David. What's wrong with his voice? It's coming from behind me, and I can't turn around.

"Jasdero, I'm here, it's me!" Suddenly I smile, because I'm looking into the sky, and it's blue and bright and the sun's shining.

"Is it summer now, hee?" I ask whoever it is, but my voice comes out all wobbly, and I'm scared because I didn't make it like that, and something must be really wrong with me.

"Can you see me?" What? The blue sky disappears into a pink blur for a second and then appears again. I blink. It wavers, and shimmers like when the fire's really hot and we can see the bricks behind it, and then it turns into two skies.

They blink again.

"P-Patty?" I croak, and my voice is _really_ not right.

Her face really slowly comes into focus, and she's upside-down. No, I'm upside-down. Oh, I don't know anymore…

"I'll get you down, Jasdero, it's okay." Something flashes in the reflection from the fires, and I realise she's holding a gun - holding _Liz_.

"Liz is a gun, hee hee…" I say to Patty, in case she's forgotten. I sound like I'm really sleepy and want to go to bed. "A gun…That's funny, hee…Did you know, Liz is a gun? She's a gun, Patty…"

Her hands are on my shoulders and she's trying to pull me from the tree, and I scream because she's moved my bad arm. That scares her and she jumps back, leaving me half-in and half-out, swinging like a monkey.

I like monkeys.

"Careful Patty, I think he's really hurt!" says Patty's gun, and I laugh 'cuz I've just remembered that Liz had a gun that talked too. Or was that just Patty?

I don't know…

Suddenly I can feel myself slipping and I'm falling to the ground, and I've got that funny feeling in my tummy again…

"Ah!" There's a loud noise behind me, and just before I hit the grass someone catches me, and although my legs hit the ground really hard they've got my shoulders and my head and my bad arm and I think they know it hurts 'cuz they're holding it real careful like.

"Are you okay?" I recognize Liz's voice.

I open my eyes.

Patty's bending over me, pulling at my eyelids, and when she sees me looking her face breaks into this massive grin like I've never seen before.

My tummy feels funny again.

*******

**David**

Shit! Shit! _Shiiiiiit!_ I can feel every breath in my lungs as I run, and they fucking _hurt_. I haven't had to run like this for a long time.

_Jasdero!_

He's not answering! Where the hell is he? I'm torn between finding him, and seeking out that bastard of an exorcist that threw him out of sight. Jasdero comes first. He always comes first, before me and after me.

"Find him…find him…" I don't even realise I'm talking to myself. I've got my gun clutched tight in my hand, but what use is it really, without him?

"David!"

I skid to a halt at the sound of my name. Who said that?

I see a small figure waving at me through the trees. I hesitate, and then run towards them. As I get nearer, I suddenly realise that

it's Patty. She stops waving and drops to her knees, and I see she's got a gun clenched in her first.

Wow.

They came out here…for us?

But none of that matters right now, 'cuz I've just noticed that Jasdero's lying at her feet, and he looks bad. As I dash forward and crouch next to Patty, I see a monster bruise forming on his side, and there's blood all over one shoulder, and his left arm looks sort of funny. His eyes are open but I don't know if he can see, because he's just staring straight up.

Patty's bending over him and gingerly poking his bloody neck. I shove her off. "Stop that!"

She stares at me and moves slowly sideways, giving me more room to examine my brother. I suddenly notice that his eyes have shifted - he's following Patty.

I wave my hand above his nose. "Jas? Hey, Dero? You in there?"

"Yeah, Debitto." His voice is slurred and weak. "What's wrong with my arm? I can't…can't move it."

Ignoring him, I grab handfuls of his hair and move them off his neck, because I'm worried about that blood. I can't see where it's coming from, and I waste a few seconds staring like an idiot.

Someone taps me on the shoulder. Patty's holding a tissue out to me. It looks stained and used, but I snatch it off her and start dabbing at Dero's jaw and neck.

Soon the deep red is cleaned away, revealing his normal grey skin. I see a nasty gash just behind his jaw, where the back of his head meets his neck. Carefully I clean it out - he whimpers as I do this - and once it's clean it slowly heals over. It must have been deep.

His cheeks are stained black from his tears and running makeup. He's such a cry-baby sometimes. "You okay, Jas?"

"My arm, David…"

"I think it's broken," says Liz, and I look all around for her before remembering she's a gun. It's _weird,_ having a conversation with a pistol.

"We've got to try and get him back to the house," says Liz, and we all duck down as another explosion goes off overhead.

"But…the exorcists," I say, and my head's starting to hurt because there are so many things I've got to think about, and I can't deal with them all.

_I want to go home, Debi._

"We could take care of the exorcists, David!"

I blink. I think this is the first time Patty's called me by my name.

"We can't do that Patty, don't say crazy things," snaps Liz.

In spite of myself, I have to agree with her. "You don't know anything about them," I say, 'cuz that's true whether they like it or not. "They'd kill you."

"Besides," I add, gently trying to lift Jasdero up. "I need help getting him to the house."

The gun glows and suddenly Liz is squatting next to me. She doesn't say anything, but hooks her arms under Dero's armpits and carefully heaves him into a sitting position. "Hey, Jasdero, can you hear me?"

"I think so."

She looks directly at me, and I find I can't quite meet her eyes. "Help me get him on my back, David."

My jaw drops. "What?"

"We don't have time, just do it, you idiot!"

"Don't call me - "

Patty whacks me on the head. "Listen to big sis, silly!"

I clutch my skull, but don't say anything.

Liz tuts and starts trying to manhandle him into a piggyback by herself. Patty runs behind her and starts helping, lifting Jasdero's bad arm and hooking it around her sister's neck.

"You'd do that for him?" I say in amazement, 'cuz I can't quite believe it.

"Yes, just help!" she snaps, and _this _time I get to my feet and starting pushing Jasdero further up her back.

Eventually he's safely clinging on, peering over her shoulders like a frightened baby sloth.

I pat his back. _S'okay, Jas. We've got you._

"Come on!" squeals Patty, and leads us back at a run. Liz follows, bent-backed and more slowly, with Jasdero clinging on tight. I bring up the rear, glancing back every now and then in case of exorcists, and making sure Jasdero doesn't fall off.

We soon stumble onto the back lawn, and Patty's scrambling through the living room window. She turns around and reaches to Liz for Jasdero. I run forward and together we slide him into Patty's waiting arms.

Once we're all in, I slam the window shut and drag the curtains back across it. The exorcists are the akuma's problem now.

Patty kneels by the sofa, where Jasdero's lying like a broken thing, one arm hanging to the floor. I swallow and walk over. "You're safe now, Jas."

"I know, David."

"How's your neck?"

"Better."

Liz and Patty are silent, watching. I pull the edge of his jacket back, and the bruise is still there. It must have been Innocence that hit him, since it's not healing like it should.

His arm is definitely broken, Liz was right. At first I wonder why it hasn't just healed straightaway like it should have done, but I see that the bruising has spread from his side all the way up to his shoulder, and I think the Innocence is sort of preventing him from healing right.

"Those _wankers_," I snarl.

"David, we've got to help him."

"There's nothing we can do!" I don't mean to shout, but Innocence makes me _sick_, and there really is nothing. We're just gonna have to wait 'til Jas gets better slowly, 'til his body flushes out the Innocence infection.

His arm's gonna have to heal like a normal human's would.

There's a huge tearing sound. Liz and I turn quickly to see Patty ripping part of the curtain right off. She beams at us and holds it out. Liz freaks out. "Patty, what are you _doing_? This isn't our house!"

"Silly, Liz!" she shouts. "Jasdero needs a sling!"

A what?

Liz narrows her eyes, and then sighs. "You're right, Patty."

"Yay!" Patty skips over, dragging the material with her. I hear Liz mutter under her breath, "But next time, _ask_ before you destroy someone's furniture."

I've never needed a doctor, so I have no idea what they're planning to do to Jasdero. I decide to watch carefully, and intervene if it looks like they're going to hurt him.

Liz takes his arm real gently and looks right into his eyes. He stares at her, and his eyes are all wet and it's 'cuz it hurts so much.

I stay quiet, but I tell him everything's okay in my head, so he doesn't get scared.

"Jasdero?" says Liz softly. It's a nice way of talking, it makes me feel like everything's gonna be all right. "I'm going to move your arm now, and it will hurt."

"Hurt?" he asks her, and his eyes go all big and bulgy.

"It's the only way, I'm sorry," she tells him, and puts a hand on his cheek. Where did she learn to be so…so _caring_? "Are you ready?"

"No…"

"Yeah, you are," says Patty, and she sits next to him on the sofa, bending over his head. "Three-two-one!"

Liz lifts his arm up, and Jasdero screams like he's never screamed before, and his legs are kicking and thrashing and I throw myself forward and I try and pull Liz off, she's hurting him, she's hurting him…

"David, stop it!" she shouts at me, trying to keep Jasdero's arm in the air. "David!"

"Get off him!" I yell. "You're hurting him! Stop it!"

"David, you're making it worse!"

"Let go of him!"

Patty jumps to her feet and drags me away from Liz. I hit her as hard as I can but she doesn't let go. "Get off me! Leave Jasdero alone!"

Liz doesn't look at me, but tucks the curtain material under his arm and loops it around his neck. When that's done she lays his arm down again and he stops screaming - thank god - and starts snivelling instead.

Patty finally lets go of me and I immediately dive forward and throw Liz aside; to my surprise, she lets me.

I kneel next to my brother, and he stares at me, the cloth tied around his neck and holding his arm in place. I think I understand what Liz has done; now the cloth's holding his arm in place, and it shouldn't hurt as much.

_Ow, Debitto._

_Sorry, Jas._

He grins suddenly. "What for?"

I grin back. "I don't know."

He looks over my shoulder at Liz and Patty, and I do too. They smile, uncertainly. I get to my feet. "Um. Thanks."

"It's nothing," says Liz, and that's a really stupid thing to say, 'cuz it clearly _wasn't, _coming out after us like they did in the middle of all that crazy shit.

"Well. Thanks anyway."

Patty giggles. "You're kind of cute when you're trying to be nice."

Why does she keep pissing me off? I turn back to Jasdero and swear under my breath, so Liz doesn't hear, and he starts laughing at me.

"Shut up, Jasdero!"

"Nyah!" He pulls a face at me. "You can't be mean to me, David! I'm sick!"

"No you're not, you're just bashed up, idiot."

"You still gotta be nice to me," he giggles.

Patty settles down next to me and laughs with him. "Yeah, David! It's be-nice-to-Jasdero day!"

She does a funny little dance. "Hey, I'm gonna sing about giraffes now!"

I look over my shoulder at Liz. "How do you stand it?"

Jasdero's mouth stretches wide in a massive grin, and he starts laughing, really loud.

Liz grins at me. "How do _you?_"

***

**Patty**

I feel much better now that Jasdero's okay. See? _See?_ Liz can sort _anything _out, she really can. I broke my wrist once, and it hurt more than anything I've ever felt, so I bet Jasdero's arm hurts a lot. He doesn't look like it does now though, he's watching me as I sing my song and he's smiling really big so I think he likes giraffes.

I know I do.

David sits there being quiet, and I wonder if _he's _okay. I mean, he was out there in the battle as well, wasn't he? What if he got hurt too? I ask him if he's all right.

He shrugs. "Yeah."

"You didn't get hurt, did you?"

He looks surprised. "What do you care?"

"If you get hurt real bad, it can be _bad_ and I know this one guy and he got stabbed in the back and he didn't go to hospital and so he _died_," I tell him.

"Right…" David gives me a strange look and turns away

Jasdero looks scared. "I'm not going to die, am I, hee?"

"No, no," says Liz nicely to him, sitting down in an armchair and not looking at the window 'cuz I think she's still kind of shook up from what's going on outside.

"You're a Noah, Jas," yawns David, running a hand through his hair, I think he's a bit tired and I know how he feels, this has been a bit of a weird day. Even weirder than yesterday.

Liz gawps at him. He notices, and slowly lowers his hand from his head, and he looks at her like she's crazy. "Yes?"

She points at her forehead, and we all look at it. Jasdero frowns. "I don't see nothing."

"No," explains Liz, and points at David. "_Your_ forehead."

"Huh?" He touches it, brushing his long black hair out the way. "What about it?"

I suddenly see what she means; he's got some weird markings above his eyebrows. "What are _they_?" I ask him.

"Oh," says David, and I think he's just realised what we're talking about. "They're nothing."

Liar! They sure don't _look_ like nothing! They look like…like he's got _holes_ in his skin or something. Only in the shape of crosses. I feel a bit sick, because I don't like it when I cut myself, it hurts a lot, and David looks like someone's cut his forehead up pretty bad except it's not bleeding.

Jasdero laughs behind me. I turn and look at him, and he moves his headband out the way, and I see he's got just the same markings as David. Liz shudders. "What _are_ they?"

"Stigmata," mutters David, brushing his fringe so it covers his forehead again, I think he's a bit shy about it.

"What're they?" I ask, 'cuz I've never heard that word before, it sounds foreign. Kidd would probably know what it means, he's ever so clever, he knows lots of languages.

"They're the mark of our family!" explains Jasdero.

"They look like…_scars_," whispers Liz.

"They're not, they're…tattoos," snaps David.

I don't believe him. "Nuh uh! I _saw_, they're like holes in your skin!"

Liz looks sick. "Who did that to you?"

"No one," says Jasdero. "It just happened."

I'm _so_ confused. So I decide that it's not important, because it's not, because I can't understand it. I forget about their foreheads and start plaiting Jasdero's hair again. It looks messy but his hair is actually really nice, all long and tangly and quite soft. Liz_ never_ lets me fiddle with her hair, she's worried I'll mess it up.

Jasdero doesn't mind. He lies still while I give him one tiny plait behind his ear, and then he flicks that funny light thing he's got hanging over his head, and I stop so I can watch it bob up and down. It's like an antennae. It stops moving, so I lean over and flick it too. We both watch it. I like it, it's cool. He starts laughing, and soon I can't help it, I start laughing too. David and Liz stare at us both, and we must look funny, both sitting there laughing and watching this light thingy move up and down.

Liz opens her mouth, and I hear her breathe in 'cuz she's about to say something. But she never even gets to start 'cuz the whole world suddenly vibrates, and all the sound is sucked out the air, and I can't hear and it makes me scream but I can't even hear myself screaming. And outside the world goes so bright it's white, and I can see that even through the curtain. The whole house shakes, and suddenly the window explodes, and glass goes everywhere. The mirror does too, and the glass window of the cupboard, and all the plates and vases. Liz and David were sitting nearer the window, so they're both thrown forward against the sofa.

I can't hear anything! I bash my head but nothing happens, and I can't see properly either 'cuz the light was so bright. Liz gets to her feet in a blur and there's a few flashes as what I think is glass are brushed off her shoulders.

I can smell fire.

The world outside the window is blazing.

***

**Liz**

My hearing slowly returns as my ears stop ringing, and with it my sight. I blink a few times to rid my vision of those flashing white spots, and look around the room. Patty, my baby sister, my beloved Patty, hasn't left Jasdero's side; she's shielded him from the glass with her own body. I can't believe she'd be so brave. Luckily nothing's hurt her, she's just got a slight bruise on her leg where she was thrown against the sofa by the force of the impact.

David lies at my feet, and I suddenly realise there's blood soaking into the floor.

Jasdero pushes himself up on one arm, and is trying to see over Patty's shoulder. "David?"

I move around so that I'm between Jasdero and his brother, I can't let him see this, I can't.

There's glass and china and mirror fragments everywhere, all over the floor. I clear a space around David and pull him into a lopsided sitting position, but he doesn't open his eyes, just lies there in my arms.

There's a shard of glass the size of my hand sticking out of his back.

I don't know what to do.

I want to pull it out of him, I want to help, but what if it's keeping the blood in? What if I sever something inside him when I pull it out? His mouth is half-open, and to my relief there's no blood coming from his throat. At least he's not bleeding inside.

"Liz?" Patty stays where she is, holding Jasdero's hand tight. He's given up trying to get to his feet and is lying there patiently, and it breaks my heart, he's just waiting for David to get back up, he's expecting everything to turn out okay like Patty does.

"_All I got is Debitto."_

"You better not be dead, David," I whisper to him fiercely, praying that he can hear me. He _can_. He's not dead. He's _not_. "You hear me? Don't you _dare_ die and leave your brother like this."

But I'm shaking as I say this, and I angrily realise that there are tears - _tears - _pricking my eyelids.

I don't think David's going to wake up.

The glass is in pretty deep.

Suddenly Patty appears at my shoulder, and I push her away because I don't like her seeing this kind of thing. She shakes her head and moves my hand off David's shoulder. "Look, sis."

She puts her fingers around the glass, and my eyes widen as I realise what she's about to do. Is she _crazy?_ "No, Patty! You don't know what will happen if we try and move it!"

"Silly, yes I do!" she says impatiently.

"No, you don't!"

"Get off, sis!" she shouts, but not angrily, just to make herself heard over my babbling. "Remember? When Jasdero bashed his head yesterday, and when he cut his neck today? _It got better_."

I blink. She's right.

"But…but Jasdero's…arm…" What if it's only minor injuries that heal?

But if Patty's right…

Before I can say anything else, she gives an almighty tug and the glass slides out of David's back, splattering blood all over my arms. She throws it aside and crouches next to me, and I look down at him lying on my lap, waiting, and waiting…

Jasdero whimpers behind me. "Is he okay, Liz?"

"Shh…" soothes Patty, skipping back to his side and taking his hand once more. "Liz can make _anything_ better, promise."

No, I can't.

It's no good, there's still blood seeping into the floor, and David _still_ hasn't opened his eyes and…

His fingers twitch slightly.

I catch my breath.

"Uggghhh…" He runs his tongue over his lips and slowly opens his eyes. Oh my god…

They really can heal.

He raises his hand and slowly rubs one eye, and then suddenly his eyes open even wider and he stares straight up at me. "What the - "

I quickly realise that he's lying in my lap, and I've kind of got arms around him, and that's _really_ embarrassing, and I don't care that he's just returned from the brink of death, I drop him on the floor really quickly and stand up, wiping my hands clean of his blood.

Jasdero laughs and laughs and laughs. "You're okay, David! You're okay!" He struggles into a sitting position, with some help from Patty. "I thought you were dead!"

Patty clasps his good hand tight and laughs with him. I feel my lips twitch. "Heh…"

"Don't you _dare_ laugh at me," he snarls.

It's so good to hear him get angry again that I don't even hit him.

Patty starts singing another song about how David was hurt and now he's not any more. It's tuneless and a bit random but seeing her so happy makes me smile.

I help David to his feet. "I think we're all going to be o - "

The entire sky goes black and red, and the ceiling disappears in an explosion of fire and debris.

I cough and splutter, I think I've inhaled some dust, and brush wood splinters and pieces of chandelier off my head. As I get to my feet, my hair is whipped around my face and I realise I can see the sky where the ceiling used to be.

A broken object lies across the remains of the room it's just demolished, and I think it's what's left of a destroyed akuma. Some sticky tar-like substance oozes from a huge slash in its chest, and its eyes whirl in the sockets as it chokes out a death-rattle. Right before my eyes, it explodes out of existence, in the same way that a _kishin _does.

David shields his eyes and squints at the sky. His face contorts with horror. "Oh, no…"

A figure has appeared in the fire-ridden sky, and they're…they're _floating_. I gape as whoever it walks _down_ towards us as easily as though descending the stairs.

He alights on a large crumbled section of the wall and gazes down at us all. I look back at him, taking in the inexplicably pristine suit, the white kid gloves, the enormous top hat - and the grey skin.

He smiles slyly at me, and I blush in spite of myself - he is very handsome. Although when he smiles, he shows too many teeth. "Well well, Jasdevi! What _have_ you been up to in my absence?"

"Oh great, it's _you_," groans David, folding his arms. The man in the top hat tilts his head to the side and he looks from David, scowling up at him, to me behind David, and to Patty clutching Jasdero tight behind what's left of the sofa.

The man wags a finger at David. "You're always so _rude,_ Debitto. Why don't you introduce me to your new - ahem - _human_ friends?"

"_Human_ friends?" The door opens behind me, although it no longer leads onto a corridor, it's just a wooden frame standing on its own now. A small girl with short hair and a frilly pleated skirt enters the room on tiptoe and scrambles up to join the man. "Oh Jasdevi…I _told_ you not to destroy the house…"

"We didn't do it," says Jasdero immediately.

"Yes, how silly of me, it was the _exorcists_," sighs the girl, and suddenly notices me. "And you've let _vermin_ in!"

"We can't have that," and I suddenly realise the man is disappearing, he's…_sinking_ into the plaster, as though it were made of water. I gawp as he vanishes completely from sight, and then suddenly just _walks_ out of the wall.

What. The. _Hell??_

Patty trembles as he walks slowly over. I take a step towards the sofa, because there's no way I'm letting him get to her first, but he shakes his head at me. "Stay still, pretty girl. We've just got to work out what you are."

"They're no one, hee!" calls Jasdero, getting to his feet and staggering over to David's side - leaving Patty behind the sofa on her own.

The man removes his hat, and runs a hand through his curly dark hair, sweeping it back in one elegant gesture.

He has stigmata all across his otherwise smooth grey forehead.

He looks straight at me, and his eyes are golden.

"I'll be the judge of that, Jasdero."


	6. Chapter 6 Trouble and Strife

**Jasdero**

David glares at Tyki, so I do too. Tyki runs his hand over his chin, staring at Liz like he's trying to decide what to do with her. I glance sideways at Patty, and she's staring over the sofa, and her eyes are _so_ blue.

I hope Tyki leaves them alone.

"Where did they come from?" asks Road curiously, and she's sitting on the broken wall, swinging her stripy legs. I wonder where Lero is.

"We dunno," says David, and he's got his hands in his pockets, and he's trying to be grumpy and bored so Tyki and Road think he's not bothered, but his thoughts are going _crazy_. It makes my head hurt and I laugh to make it stop, but it doesn't work very well.

My left arm aches a bit, and so does the bruise on my side. I _hate_ Innocence.

"They're not exorcists," says Tyki slowly, taking a step towards Liz. She moves away from him, and I see her glance quickly at Patty again, and I feel bad for her, 'cuz she wants to help her little sister but she can't.

"We're not from this world," says Liz in a small voice, but I think even she realises how stupid that sounds.

Tyki laughs at her.

Road does too. "David, you've found yourself an _alien_ girlfriend!"

Tyki looks Liz up and down. "Isn't she a little _old_ for you?"

"She's not his girlfriend," says Patty firmly, still peeping nervously at Tyki. She's brave, to talk to him like that even though she's scared as hell.

"Oh, another one," Tyki says, and he moves over to her, but Liz jumps in front of him. "Don't hurt her!"

He pushes her gently out of the way. "Stand aside girl."

"_Don't hurt her!"_

"I can't promise anything," he says smoothly, in that voice me and David hate, the one Tyki uses when he thinks he's king of the world and nothing can bring him down. "But I'll try."

He shoves Liz to the ground and bends over the sofa. "And who are you, little girl?"

I can't see Patty, she's hidden behind the sofa, but I hear her blow a raspberry at him. I laugh. David does too, and Road looks at us with her eyebrows raised, so David puts his middle finger up at her. She sticks her tongue out back.

"Put me down!" Tyki's standing up straight again, and - my stomach lurches (why?) - he's holding Patty up by her hair. She squeals and struggles, and Liz cries out real loud, and we all hear it even over the noise of the distant battle.

I think it's getting further away.

"Don't! Leave her alone!" Liz is crying now, like when we first met her. She grabs Tyki's elbow and tries to drag him off Patty. "She's just a little girl, she doesn't know anything!"

"Did I say she did?" snaps Tyki, and lashes out at her. Liz goes flying really far, and she lands hard on the floor but she gets up immediately and I see she's got a big red mark on her cheek like what David got when she hit _him _yesterday.

Tyki pulls Patty up higher and she's wriggling like a maggot and he sticks his finger in her mouth and forces it open so he can see her teeth and then he opens her eyes really wide to peer into them and she starts crying.

I don't like that.

David looks sideways at me, and I make my worried face at him, it's a face I don't really use very often. Patty looks so _sad_ when she cries. I've never seen her sad before. It makes _me_ sad, the same way that her laugh makes _me_ laugh.

David stares at me. When I look back at him, he taps his forehead and rolls his eyes in two directions at me, and he says _you're thinking crazy thoughts, Jas._ He thinks I'm crazy.

I mean, crazier than I usually am.

"Am not," I mutter, and I feel a bit embarrassed 'cuz I think he's laughing at me.

Tyki's finished inspecting Patty, and he drops her on the floor. Liz runs over and hugs her tight, and he lets her.

"Well?" asks Road.

"Can't quite work it out," he says, wiping his stupid white gloves on his stupid handkerchief and smiling his _stupid_ smile. "She _looks_ human and _feels_ human but…" He shrugs. "Still somehow different."

"Call yourself a Noah, and you can't even recognize your own enemy," taunts David, pulling a face at Tyki, who turns very slowly and looks at him. "So you're saying they _are _our enemies?"

David looks…._scared?_ "No, I never said that. When the hell did I say that, bastard?"

"Don't swear at me, you little - "

"Tyki-pon!" calls Road, wagging her finger warningly. "Stay focused!"

"Hmph." Tyki stuff his handkerchief into his pocket and turns away from David. "Very well, Road."

"Now then…" Road jumps and lands next to Tyki and they both look at me, and I stare back, and I hope I'm not in trouble.

"What's happened to your arm, Jasdero?" asks Tyki softly, pretending like he cares about me. I know he doesn't, not really, no one's ever cared much about me ever. Except David. And Patty, and Liz. They care about me, they _do_.

"Nothing, ha ha…" I wave my right arm in the air to show him. Dummy, can't he see?

"Very funny," he mutters. "Your _other_ arm, idiot."

"You're an idiot, nyah," I say, sticking my tongue out at him. But I touch my bad left arm, gently 'cuz it still hurts, and I know that's what he's talking about. "It's broked."

"Broken," whispers Liz.

"Yeah, that."

"And David fixed you up like that all by himself, did he?" asks Tyki in a weird voice that makes me frown, I think it's his voice he uses when he's trying to be funny by saying the opposite of what he really thinks. Sarcasm, David called it.

"No," I say.

_Jasdero, shut up!_

I look over at David, kind of surprised. He makes his eyes all big and googly, and I think he's warning me about something. Does he want me to _lie _to Tyki? I shrug helplessly at him, and that makes me squeak 'cuz I've moved my bad arm.

"No?" repeats Tyki slowly.

"No?" says Road too, and I laugh at that, they're copying each other, that's funny, ha ha.

"I did it," says Liz loudly, much louder than last time she spoke, so we all look over at her. She raises her chin and looks right at Tyki, and he looks sort of surprised. Liz helps Patty up and they both stand up. She glares right at Tyki. "I fixed Jasdero up."

"How…generous of you," smiles Road, walking over to Liz and gazing up at her, she's much shorter than Liz or Patty. "Why? Does he mean a lot to you?"

Liz stares at her, confused. "He was _hurt!_ Would you rather I just left him like that, arm broken?"

"Well actually - " But Road slaps Tyki's hand and makes a 'sh-ing' gesture at him. She looks curiously at Liz. "So where exactly are you from?"

"Death City."

"Where?"

Liz starts to look worried. "…Shibusen? Come on, you must have heard of it."

"No," giggles Road, she's enjoying this. "How interesting. Tyki-pon, d'you think this could be a new ploy of the Black Order? Beaming people from other universes to fight us?"

"They seem to have left Jasdevi alone," says Tyki slowly. "I suspect they may not be on the side of the Black Order."

"But _have_ they left Jasdevi alone, I wonder?" asks Road, looking from me to David. "They both appear rather…protective of these two. Perhaps…"

"Brainwashing?" says Tyki in his sarcastic voice again, he thinks Road's being silly.

She shrugs. "I'm not ruling out any possibility. Watch this."

My stomach twists again like I've eaten bugs as she steps over to Patty and pinches her cheek. Patty whimpers. I think she's scared of Road, even though Road's much smaller. Road can be scary when she wants to be._ I_ know.

Road looks right at me, and I don't know why. She grins at me and suddenly slaps Patty across the face, real hard.

Liz screams, and shoves Road hard away from Patty. "I said, _don't hurt her!_" Patty's clutching her face and crying harder than before. I step forward, because I want to help her, I do, but David grabs my shoulder and shakes his head at me. _Don't make it worse._

I look back at Patty. Road's laughing.

I _want to help_.

"Put that away, David," snaps Tyki, and next to me David's drawn his pistol.

But again Road hushes him. She's looking at me again. "Come on, Jasdero. What're you going to do?"

I look away from her.

David watches me.

Lightly Road skips over to us, and tilts her head to one side, copying what I do sometimes. She puts her tiny thin fingers around David's wrist. "Are you going to kill them - " She pulls his arm and points his gun at Patty and Liz. " - Or us?" She points the gun at Tyki, who narrows his eyes. Road licks her lips. "Whose side are you on?"

David wrenches himself out of her grasp and kicks the floor angrily. "Leave him alone, Road. He's got nothing to do with those two."

She watches me carefully. "I'm asking _Jasdero._"

"You're asking _Jasdevi_," snarls David, and he points from me to him. Then, to my surprise, and Road's, he shoves his gun up against her forehead. "Now get away from him."

"Don't show off, David," she says. "Without Jasdero there's not much you can do, is there? Come on, Jasdero," she adds to me, and I step backwards from her, I don't like this, everyone's staring at me. "Who are you going to shoot?"

I want everyone to _stop staring_.

"No one," I tell her, really quietly.

"I'm sorry?" she asks, like she hasn't heard right, but her voice has gone a bit nasty and her eyes have gone dark. I think I've been bad. (I hope she doesn't tell the Earl…)

"No one," I say a bit louder. "I'm not shooting anyone."

Road starts to smile. "You're not even going to_ try_ and defend your little friends?"

Tyki adjusts his hat. "Or help us execute them?"

"No," I say, and my voice sounds strong, even though I don't feel it. "I mean I'm not going shoot anyone. I've lost my gun."

Everyone goes silent.

After a pause, I start to laugh, but nervously, 'cuz everyone's still staring at me.

Tyki laughs over me, loudly. "Well David, I believe you've been rendered useless!"

"Fuck you!" snaps David, still with his gun on Road. "Where did you lose it, Jas?" _You can't have lost it, you can't, you can't_…

"In the woods, when I was blown up," I say in a small voice. It must have fallen out of my hands or something when I was in the tree. Because I sure don't have it now. I feel _weird_ without my gun. I _need_ it, like I need David.

"Is…is this it?"

We all turn, very slowly, and next to Liz, Patty raises a trembling hand, and she's holding my pistol. She looks real scared as we all stare at her, and her lip trembles. "I - I found it…When we found Jasdero. I…picked it up… and p-put it in my pocket…"

David lowers his gun. Tyki takes a step towards Patty, and Liz moves to put herself in the way. Road moves closer too, stepping carefully around the broken bits of the house.

She holds her hand out to Patty, who flinches and moves away.

"Why don't you hand it to me?" she says to her, with a sweet voice, but she still sounds scary.

"Don't, Patty," I say quickly, because I'm suddenly sure that Road _mustn't _get my gun. "Give it to me."

"Be quiet, Jasdero," snaps Road, and tries to push me away, but David gets there first and elbows her off me. I step in front of Patty and put my arm - my good arm - out at her. "Give me my gun, hee hee _hee_!" I don't mean to laugh like that, but it's just what happens to me when I get over-excited, or tense, or…

"Give it to Road," says Tyki coldly behind us. Suddenly, Liz gasps, and we all turn to see Tyki holding her against his chest by the neck, twisting her arm behind her back. Patty screams. Tyki smiles. "Give Road the pistol."

"Don't," I tell her, more urgently. "I need it back! Hee!" There's that laugh again, it's like there's someone else inside me who thinks everything's funny and laughs at them even when I don't wanna.

Patty looks wildly from me to Road, to Liz. She looks scared.

*******

**Liz**

The man's grip is rough and very strong. Every time I try and move, he tightens his hands on my wrist and neck, until I can barely breathe.

"Liz!" Patty's desperate voices pulls at my heart. She's staring at me and she looks more frightened than I've ever seen her.

"P-Patty!" I manage to choke out. "Give…give her the…gun!" She has to, I can't die here, I _can't._

"That's right," I hear the man - Tyki? - say. "Just hand it to Road, there's a good girl."

"For god's sake, give it to Jasdero!" I hear David yell. "Road and Tyki will kill both of you if you give it up to Road!"

"Don't be silly, David," giggles Road. She leers at Patty, and I struggle harder, because I don't want them hurting her. Road wags her finger at Patty. "Do you want Tyki to kill your sister?"

Tyki presses his hand harder into my arm, pushing it against my back, and I scream involuntarily. My shoulder's burning.

"_Patty!_" says Jasdero, more seriously than I've ever heard him.

Tears are streaming down Patty's face now; she never did like having to make decisions. "Let my sister go!"

Tyki snorts. "Not likely."

Patty clutches the pistol close to her chest. She looks right at me. I don't know what she wants.

"What are you trying to pull?" sneers Road. "Just give it to me!"

Patty's staring harder, and I bite my lip. Still with her gaze fixed on me, she takes a step back from Jasdero and Road. "Liz, you gotta transform!" Her voice is high-pitched and wavering with emotion. I know she's right, but then before I can react in any way, Tyki moves real quickly behind me and I feel…I feel something… something strange against my collarbone.

Patty screams, loud and long, as though the world has ended. I don't realise what's wrong. Tyki leans down to me, and I feel his breath on my neck and ear. "I've never pulled out an alien heart before."

"What…what are you…" I lift one foot slightly, but his other hand squeezes my arm warningly. "I wouldn't move if I were you."

What's going on? I can't transform anymore…My chest tingles unpleasantly. I feel sweat break out on my forehead. What's he doing?

"How would you like to have your _heart_ pulled out?" he whispers.

Very slowly I look down, and my throat catches at what I see. He no longer has one hand on my neck, but instead has lowered it slightly and…and…

His hand has gone right _through_ my breastbone.

I whimper. How has he done that? "But…I didn't feel anything…"

"Strange, isn't it?" he breathes. Something inside my chest twitches, and suddenly my heart - my actual _heart _- hurts. Really _hurt_s_. _

"What's he doing to me?" I scream, because I still don't get it. He can't pull my heart out, he _can't_! It's some sort of illusion, it _has to be_…

"Stay still, Liz!" shouts David. "If you move, he'll kill you."

"That's right," calls Tyki to Patty. Why can't he leave her _alone_? I feel tears spilling onto my cheeks. "Patty!"

Jasdero looks frightened too. He looks quickly from me to Patty, and starts whimpering feebly like a puppy. "David!"

David shrugs helplessly. My stomach drops. There's nothing anyone can do. Road starts giggling triumphantly, and Patty takes a hesitant step towards her.

"No!" Jasdero moves towards Patty, holding his one good hand out nervously to her. "Please…please, Patty! I need it if I'm going to help you!"

"How unlike you, Jasdero," remarks Tyki dryly, and I feel my heart pulsate under his fingers.

Patty's stopped crying, I notice. She sniffs loudly and wipes her eyes. To my surprise, she gives Jasdero a vague, watery smile. "Sorry, Dero."

His face falls. David shouts out a protest. I watch as Patty flings the pistol at Road, who catches it nimbly. For one stupid moment I honestly think that everything's going to be all right now because we've given them want they want. But I catch sight of David's despairing expression, and I realise how naïve that is.

I've lost us our last chance at saving ourselves. Patty gave away Jasdero's weapon to save _me_, me who was _stupid _enough to get captured. I feel like such a _loser_.

Suddenly Road's gleeful expression slides off her face. Even Tyki's grip slackens on me, and I hear him intake a breath sharply in shock. "What…where'd she go?"

"What…what is this?" demands Road, stepping back, and pointing commandingly at David. "What's she done?" He pulls a face at her and shakes his head.

Jasdero stares at the sky as Patty disappears upwards in a glow of white light, and a second later she's tumbling back down towards him - in gun form.

Oh Patty, you wonderful, _wonderful _girl.

Jasdero catches her and stares at David, looking utterly dumbfounded.

David slowly starts to grin.

Road steps back, clinging to Jasdero's gun with both hands. She looks confused, and a lot less sure of herself. "Where did that pistol come from?"

Jasdero slowly returns his brother's smile. David deftly flips his pistol and points it straight at Tyki over my head. Jasdero swings around and points Patty straight at Tyki too.

I hear him snarl in frustration. "You idiots, you'd never hurt me."

"Let her go!" orders David. "Road's got what she wanted, you don't need her any more."

Patty clicks slightly as Jasdero tightens his grip, and I feel a slight sense of misgiving. We…me and Patty, we work as guns by concentrating and firing a user's soul. Will she even work in the hands of someone from another world? Does…does Jasdero have a soul?

Tyki hesitates, and then I feel him very slowly remove his hand from chest. He releases me at last, and I collapse at his feet, rubbing my shoulders. They _ache_ so much!

I glance up as he steps deliberately over me, walking towards Jasdero and David with hands held out to them appealingly. "Come on, Jasdevi. Don't be silly, now. You know you'll never kill me."

"There's not much need for it now," snaps David, but he still doesn't lower his gun.

"Get away from Liz," says Patty, jiggling slightly in Jasdero's hand.

"Okay, okay," sighs Tyki, moving away from me. I slowly get to my feet, still massaging my left arm. He looks over his shoulder at me, and smiles a horrible, slimy smile. "If she means that much to you."

"She's my _sister,_" Patty tells him forcefully.

Road sighs and walks back to Tyki's side, dropping Jasdero's pistol carelessly on the ground. "All_ right_."

She walks right between Jasdero and David, pushing both their arms down as she does so. "Let's all just calm down, shall we?"

David scowls at her.

She smiles back, sweetly. "In case you've forgotten, we do still have a few exorcists on our hands."

Tyki glances over at the sky. "Road, the akuma appear to have dealt with them."

Jasdero stoops and grabs his pistol off the floor. He rather solemnly hands Patty to me, and to my surprise gives me a reassuring smile. Patty transforms before I can take her off him, and soon is standing before me in full form, beaming at me and clutching Jasdero's hand tight in her own.

Road taps her lip thoughtfully, and frowns slightly. Next to her, David stuffs his gun back in his pocket, and starts gnawing rapidly at his thumbnail. He looks slightly maniacal.

Jasdero's doing his big-eyed staring thing again, looking quickly from David to Tyki to Road to David to Tyki to…He still hasn't let go of Patty's hand. I feel a bit nervous, because everyone appears a bit on edge, and I have no idea what's going to happen now.

Road appears to have finished her thinking. "Well Tyki, let's just allow them to remain with us, for now." She whirls around, skirts flying, and fixes her gaze on the sky. I do too, and I see that the smoke and fire has cleared a good deal now, and there are no akuma in sight. Occasionally there's one or two explosions, but apart from that the air has become eerily still.

David's thumb has started to bleed, he stops chewing and starts licking the blood clean rapidly. "All right Road, so why did the exorcists turn up then?" I notice how his eyes are darting agitatedly all over the place, refusing to look at anyone. He's determined to change the subject.

Tyki takes a deep breath. "It's complicated, David. According to the Earl, the exorcists had gotten wind of a new source of Innocence and were heading over to it by boat."

Road nods. "So Tyki, Lulubelle and I took a bunch of akuma and went after them with the Earl. Sweet-tooth headed inland, further North, to try and intercept their backup."

I frown, wondering who and what this is all about. Jasdero nods really slowly, with a concentrating expression that tells me he's trying to figure everything out.

"Anyway, their forces numbered rather a lot more than we expected, so…" Tyki stops here and drops his gaze.

Jasdero looks from him to Road expectantly. David's lip curls. "You did a runner."

"Such a way with words," coos Road sarcastically. "But yeah, that's what happened. And as you can see, they decided they'd rather follow us than let us return home - which doesn't actually exist anymore, thanks to you."

"I told you, hee! It wasn't us!" squeals Jasdero indignantly, dropping Patty's hand to point at the sky. "The exorcists threw an akuma at us."

"Well if you two had been out there _helping_, then _maybe_ that wouldn't have happened!" growls Tyki.

"Jasdero's fucking _arm_ is broken!" yells David at him. "Or maybe you're too bloody thick to notice that?"

"Shh, shh," soothes Road, slipping her arm into Tyki's and cuddling against him. Her head barely comes up to his elbow. "You two can bicker all you want _after _we've sorted this mess out."

I'm surprised at how quickly David and Tyki shut up at her words. Why do they all listen to her? She's so much younger than any of them. As I think this, she catches me looking at her, and gives me a shrewd smile. It makes me shiver slightly.

Far away, a single akuma hovers over the distant treetops. I guess it's the sole survivor. Smoke billows from the forest underneath it, and it slowly blasts this way and that. It looks like it's searching for something. We all watch it, and Tyki frowns. "We'll have to get out there after the exorcists. One level 2 akuma can't deal with them alone."

"They're probably heading towards us right now," says Road carelessly, scuffing the ground with her polished shoes. "Want to wait for Skin?""We haven't time, Road."

"Where's the Boss?" asks David suddenly, and Jasdero looks up at that, and his eyes are wide and twitching slightly. Again I find myself questioning his sanity.

"Went after the Innocence," says Tyki. "Some of the exorcists did too."

"It's just us," giggles Road. "We're going to have clean up before he gets home."

In spite of this seemingly harmless statement and her cutesy voice, there's something kind of ominous in what she says, and I wonder just _who_ this 'Boss' is.

"Let's _go_ then," snaps Tyki, flexing his fingers. He looks really high-strung and I shiver as I remember how close he must have come to killing me. He strides off, walking right _through_ the nearest pile of rubble - how _does he do that?_ - and quickly disappears into the trees.

Road looks at me. "Will you be coming?"

I open my mouth to tell her no, no_ way_, we're not killing ourselves for you, but Patty gets there before me.

"Yeah, we're gonna help you!"

I stare at her.

Road turns her back on us and follows Tyki at a run. "Well hurry up then!"

David stomps off after her, but Jasdero stays where he is, one good arm hanging limply down and staring at me again. I smile nervously. He blinks, and starts staring at Patty instead.

David marches back and takes Jasdero's arm roughly, pulling him away from us and into the woods.

We follow.

It's just like old times, isn't it?

As I step over soot-stained grass and scorched earth, Patty pulls at my arm, and I bend down to her mouth.

"Can I tell you a secret, sis?"

"Yeah, Patty."

"Jasdero wouldn't have fired me."

"What?" I trip over a root as we walk, because I'm too busy staring at her. "What do you mean?"

"I felt it, when he caught me," explains Patty, still whispering. "He _doesn't have a soul_."

So he couldn't have used Patty anyway, even if he'd wanted to.

I look up from Patty and stare at Jasdero and David in front of us. If Jasdero hasn't got a soul, then I'm willing to bet that his twin doesn't either. No soul…even the thought makes me feel sick. _Everyone _has a soul where we come from. Is it different here?

What does it mean, to not have a soul? How do they know who they _are?_ Patty laughs at me, because I make this really serious face when I start thinking too much and she thinks it's hilarious.

I nudge her. "C'mon Patty, turn into a gun for me, eh?" After my helplessness at the hands of Tyki, I'm determined to be more prepared this time.

I feel a lot safer with her in my hands. It's strange, but there's something reassuring about the heavy, cold touch of gunmetal, of knowing you carry a threat in your hands.

Patty giggles and I glance down at her. "What?"

"You're nervous, Liz," she tells me, and I scowl. Is it _that_ obvious?

"Your hands are squeezing me too hard," she says. "Jasdero's hands are _much_ nicer_."_

She's teasing, of course.


	7. Chapter 7 Just Teasing

**David**

Tyki stops in front of me so suddenly that I walk into him, which makes me angry. "Dammit!" I stagger back from him, clutching my head. What's wrong with him, the _idiot_!

Jasdero bumps into _me_ so I get pushed into Tyki again and he turns around and glares at me and I glare back, and he clenches his teeth around his stupid cigarette. "Stop behaving like kids."

"Stop stopping suddenly!"

He gives me a funny look and turns away again. Bastard!

I quickly see what's made him stop. We've reached a clearing - but it's not a natural one. The ground's so burnt, there's no grass left. Jasdero snickers at that. _It's bald, Debi, the floor is bald_. Heh.

On Tyki's other side, Road raises an arm and points at a tree. "We've got company."

We all follow her gaze.

An exorcist sits in the tree, staring down at us all. He's breathing heavily, and there's blood caked all over one side of his face. Me and Jas lick our lips with relish. _Finally._

I wanna start killing _right now_, but Tyki throws an arm out to stop me.

This makes me mad. "Hey, asshole! Lemme past!"

He looks at me like I'm stupid. Which I'm not, by the way. "Honestly David, what do you think you're going to accomplish?"

"I'm gonna kill him, get outta the way!" I shove Tyki's arm down and start over towards the exorcist's tree. The guy's trying to be brave but I can hear his wimpy little exorcist heart and it's going _pump pump pump _and he effing _terrified_. Yeah, you better be scared, motherfucking bastard that you are -

"Urk!" I choke suddenly as someone yanks me firmly back by the hood of my coat. "I said _wait,_ David."

"Bastard! Lemme go!" I yell, kicking and struggling but Tyki's holding me pretty tight. With his other hand he grabs Jasdero's long hair to keep him close. "Be _patient, _Jasdevi."

"Let go!" shrieks Jasdero, waving his gun around. "It's killing time, it's killing time!"

"Such unruly children," sighs Road, and steps forward, tilting her head upwards and gazing curiously at the exorcist, who stares stubbornly back.

God, I want to hurt him. I want to hurt him _so much_.

Again I lash out at Tyki. "Let _go_!" A bright idea strikes me and I begin wriggling out of my coat. Before I can get even one arm free, though, Tyki lets go and quick as a flash wraps his arm around my neck, nearly strangling me.

"Hey, let go, pervert!"

"Don't lump me with Sheryl," he snaps, and shakes Jasdero, who's started panting furiously, staring up at the exorcist. We hate them _so much_. "Let Road deal with this," says Tyki.

"It's over, Noah," says the exorcist suddenly, he obviously thinks he's safe in that tree, the loser. "We've defeated your akuma; reinforcements are on the way now."

"Yeah, you wish, shitface! You wanna come down here and say that? Yeah, that's right, you're screwed and you know it!"

Tyki kicks me. "I said, be quiet! Can't you behave for even a minute?"

"No, hee hee!" screams Jasdero.

Somewhere above me Tyki turns his head, and I hear him grunt with surprise. "Oh, there you are. Why don't you take care of these two for me?"

"Huh?" I try and twist in his grip to see who the fuck he's talking to, but I actually can't breathe so good right now, his arm's pretty damn tight.

Jasdero wriggles. "My hair! Letgoletgoletgo! Dero's golden hair!"

"Shh!" hisses Road up ahead. "We have a guest, Jasdero."

The exorcist moves back slightly into the leaves, as if that's gonna help him.

Tyki suddenly drops both me and Jas on the floor, so suddenly that I land real hard on my back and it friggin' _hurts_.

I find myself staring up at Liz.

She must have been behind Tyki the whole time. Next to me, Jasdero's pushed himself into a wobbly sitting position and is rubbing his head with his gun. "Mean Tyki, _mean!_ Jasdero's locks!"

"Oh, get over it," says Tyki over his shoulder, walking to Road's side. "Miss, please keep them out of the way."

"Um…o-okay…" says Liz, looking sort of confused. She's got her gun in her hands again. She's got _Patty_, I correct myself. Man, I've really got to get used to this whole humans-turning-into-weapons thing. Liz steps back kind of nervously, and I help myself to my feet. I pull Jas up too and he immediately swings around to stare at the exorcist.

"Who's that?" asks Patty's voice curiously.

"That's an exorcist, hee!"

"That's a lump of _dead meat_."

"Jasdevi!" says Tyki. "Shut up!"

We shut up.

After a moment's hesitation, Liz raises the gun and points it at the exorcist, who's just noticed her. His jaw drops. "What…are you…you're not a Noah, are you?"

She looks confused. "A what?"

The exorcist looks scared. Properly scared. "Don't you know what you're doing? Get away from them, don't help them!"

Liz glances over her shoulder at me.

"They're evil!" shouts the exorcist. "What's that gun? Is it Innocence?"

Road and Tyki look round sharply at that, but Liz shakes her head firmly. "It's my sister."

"Excuse me," says Road icily. "But I believe _I_ was talking to you first, Mr. Exorcist."

The guy wobbles slightly, I think he's been hurt bad. _Good_. I'm getting tired of everyone standing around doing not much, I need some _excitement_. I nudge Jasdero and he nudges me and we both leap forwards.

"Red bomb!"

"No!" roars Tyki over the boom, and the whole tree is engulfed in beautiful, beautiful fire. Jasdero starts dancing up and down, waving his good arm in the air. "Burn, burn!" he sings. "Burning, burning!"

Road coughs and waves her arm, wafting smoke out of her face. "Nice going, Jasdevi. He's probably dead now."

"Good!" I grin, watching the flames lick the bark. I love to watch things burn.

I like watching people die even better. There's a massive, drawn out scream of pain and a burning figure throws himself free of the fire, collapsing at Tyki's feet and rolling feebly back and forth. Sighing, Tyki raises his foot and starts stomping out the flames. Me and Jas, we start giggling 'cuz the exorcist sure does look funny, all burning up and being stepped on.

Once the fire's out, he lies still, horribly burnt and breathing hard. Tyki crouches down and blows out a massive breath of smoke. "Now then, let's take a look at your Innocence."

Behind me Liz makes a tiny squeaking noise. Me and Jas look at her.

Holy shit, she's _crying _again.

She stands there, hands pressed to her mouth and tears spilling down her cheeks. As we stare at her, she gasps and splutters, and wipes her face furiously on her bare arm. "He's…he's so…_burnt_…"

And people call _us_ stupid. "Uh, yeah," I say, rolling my eyes. "That's 'cuz fire's hot, you dickhead."

Liz glares at me, with big wet eyes. "Look at what you've _done_ to him!"

We both obediently look.

The exorcist has one arm curled over his head and is trembling like a baby, as Tyki pokes him, laughing.

I turn back to Liz. "What?"

She advances a few paces. "He's a _human_, just like you! You…you've nearly killed him!"

"Yay!" cheers Jasdero, he thinks Liz is congratulating us.

"No, Jasdero!" She's nearly shouting now, and even Tyki and Road are looking at her. "How could you hurt someone so badly? He didn't do anything to you!"

Okay, wait. Is she being this stupid on purpose? "Girl, in case you didn't notice, we don't have a freakin' _house _anymore."

Road appears suddenly at my side, and breezes past, stepping in front of Liz and looking up at her. "You're very interesting, you know that?"

Liz stares back, she's scared of Road in spite of everything.

"David, what's her name?" asks Road, still gazing at Liz.

I don't say anything. Why should I?

"I asked, _what's her name?_"

"Liz," I mutter. "Her name's Liz."

"Well, 'Liz'," says Road. "I'd like to know exactly what you are."

"I'm…I'm a human. And a pistol."

"No, no," muses Road. "You can't be just a human. You've…befriended Jasdevi, for lack of a better word, and they're Noah." She licks her lips. "And Noah and humans don't mix."

"What _is_ a Noah?" demands Liz.

"A…false a-apostle…of god," chokes someone, and we all look at the exorcist, pinned under Tyki's foot. His lips are cracked and blackened, but he manages to make himself understood. "They're…evil. They - they…the…the devil…N-Noah…" With a sigh, he falls back once more, collapsing on the ground.

"I'm getting a little tired of you," sighs Tyki. "And I can't seem to find your Innocence. Did the Black Order get to it first?"

The exorcist manages a smug smile. That does it, I've got to finish him off, I want to _kill_.

"M-my comrade…I made him take it. He - he g-got away…" He lies back with a gasp and closes his eyes. "You'll never get your…your hands on it."

Road presses her hands to her forehead. "Well that's a bit of a pain. Oh well…" She shrugs. "Go ahead, Tyki-pon."

"Heh." Tyki bares his teeth in a grin and plunges his hand into the guy's chest. The exorcist smiles briefly. "I'm...done."

"Sure." Under Tyki's hand the exorcist suddenly jerks and screams, and then a second later he falls still, twitching slightly, and there's a red, glistening lump in Tyki's hand.

"Hey, no fair!" I yell. "You took our kill!"

Jasdero looks really disappointed. I know just how he feels. Carelessly Tyki chucks the discarded heart at him. "Here. You can play with it."

Jasdero doesn't quite catch it and it lands with a wet splat in the middle of his face, leaving a massive streak of blood down his nose as it slides off. He splutters and spits a mouthful out. "Urgh! Yerk! Exorcist blood!"

"Ha ha!" I laugh at him, and he throws it at _me_. I duck just in time, and the heart hits Liz behind me, _splat_.

She stands real still, arms trembling stiffly at her sides as it slithers down her front. Me and Jas start laughing, 'cuz she looks real funny like that, all rigid with this big red splotch on her face. The heart plops onto the floor, and _then_ Liz suddenly stands on tiptoe and screams. "Yeeeeeek!!" She begins dancing from foot to foot, slapping at her face. "Oh my god! Oh my god, ohmygod _ohmygod_! It's a heart! A heart! Oh my god, oh my god!"

Jasdero laughs so hard, he falls over.

***

**Patty**

Eww! That's _gross!_ I can see the heart lying on the floor, all red and shiny and wet and gross. I can understand why Liz is screaming and dancing because that is really, really _icky._ Out of the corner of my eye I can see that nasty man, that Tyki, watching, and I remember how he nearly did that to Liz. That could have been my sister's heart lying there, all bloody on the floor.

But it's not. So it's okay.

"Eeergh!" Liz grabs a fistful of David's big long coat - I think it's too big for him, it keeps sliding off his shoulders - and starts wiping herself clean of blood.

"Hey!" He shoves her away and pulls himself free. "Don't get that stuff all over _me_ too!"

"Booo!" shrieks Jasdero, and he jumps on David, the heart in one hand and he smears the blood all over David's face and hair, and David's spluttering and dripping red, and he does look _funny_.

It's like when Black Star and me surprised Kidd and poured tomato soup all over him and he got _mad._

"Gross, Jasdero!" David throws Jasdero off and leaps on top of him, grabbing the heart and waving it above his head.

"Nooo!" Jasdero wriggles, but he's lying flat on his back and David's sitting on him so he can't get up.

"Surrender!" says David, dangling the icky red thing just above Jasdero's mouth. "Say you surrender!"

"Never!"

"You're asking for it!"

Liz is flapping her hands uselessly, so I transform and squirm free of her grip. David's laughing, and Jasdero wriggles some more but he's laughing too and I know they're just playing but David sure looks like he's gonna make Jasdero eat that heart and that's really yucky so I jump forward and land right on top of David, pushing him off Jasdero and crushing him beneath me. Ha! Take that!

"Hey!" He's yelling and struggling but I hold him down with one elbow - I'm good at judo holds - and try and prise the heart out of his fingers.

Jasdero sits up and wipes his face. "Hee hee! You saved me, Patty, hee!"

David kicks his feet hard and they bang on the floor, but I still don't let him up 'cuz he _still_ won't let go of the stupid heart. He may not look it but he's pretty tough and I'm having trouble keeping him still. His face is still red and sticky with blood in places, so instead I pick up big handfuls of dirt and rub them hard into his cheeks.

_Then _I roll off him and go back to join Liz. Because anything could happen to her if I'm not there.

"Bitch!" David sits up and glares at me, and me and Dero start laughing at him. His normally grey skin is all reddish and brown and lumpy and sticky and messy where I put dirt on him. The blood's starting to dry and his hair's starting to stick to his skin in places. Ha ha, he looks _gross_.

"I told you not to call her that!" snaps Liz next to me, and I throw my arms around her, because no one can ever hurt me if she's there, because she _always_ looks out for me.

"She put _dirt_ on me!" he snaps, still sitting on the floor. His coat's slipped off his bony shoulders again. I _said_ it was too big. Man, he's really skinny. I glance at Jasdero. He's skinny too. Doesn't anyone feed them?

"I'd say it's an improvement," sneers Tyki behind us. David sticks his tongue out. "Shut up, _Tyki-pon_."

Tyki clenches a fist. "Say that again."

Jasdero looks from David to Tyki. His eyes are _huge_ and wide and golden.

By now David's gotten to his feet, and he's smiling again as he scrapes some dirt off. He opens his mouth and starts speaking really slowly. "Say what? Oh, this? Tyykiiiiiiii-pooooo - "

"Don't you _dare_."

There's a long pause.

" - nn."

Jasdero and David both double up with laughter as the man called Tyki gets pulled back by the little girl, Road. I don't like her, not at _all_. She's mean, and scary.

"Oh, come now, Tyki," she pouts, hugging his arm. "David's just teasing." Tyki glares at her, and he looks frightening, because I _know_ he's frightening and that if he really wanted to he could kill Liz and me.

I wonder if David and Jasdero would if they could?

Would they?

_Could_ they?

Would they kill us if they could? Could they kill us if they would?

"Ne, ne, Liz," I ask her. "What would it mean if could and would meant the same thing, would conversations get all messed up? Or should I say _could_ conversations get all messed up? Hey, what about should? Should would and could be different? Or does should mean the same thing? What if - "

"Patty, you're making my head hurt," groans Liz, and she hides her face in her hands like she does sometimes when Kidd's being all silly about symmetry.

"Oh, oh! I know, I know!" Jasdero waves his arm in the air and starts jumping up and down. "If would and could mean the same thing then people would just invent a new word to replace what the word could used to mean and then we would have two ways of saying would and a new way of saying could and the word should would be left alone."

Liz's eyes go all big. "That all went right over my head, sorry."

When she says this Jasdero looks confused and starts measuring his height against hers with his hand, drawing an imaginary line in the air.

Silly Liz! _I _get what Jasdero's saying, completely. "You're so clever, Jas!"

Behind me, Tyki snorts.

Jasdero beams at me. "Thanks Patty, hee!"

"Riveting though this conversation is," interrupts Road sarcastically, examining her nails. "I really think we better get moving. That exorcist mentioned reinforcements, in case you dimwits didn't notice."

"He was bluffing," says Tyki carelessly. "Most of them went after the new Innocence, and the Earl's after them. This guy's friends abandoned him, and he was just desperate to intimidate us."

"You could be right," agrees Road. "But then again, you could be wrong. I think we should go join the Earl."

"We have no akuma left, Road."

"Scared are we?" sniggers David. Jasdero giggles too, and Tyki gives them both a sour look. I don't think he finds them very funny.

_I_ do.

"There's no need for that, Debi," says Road. "Tyki's just being thorough."

I wonder what _thorough_ means.

"But Road," says Jasdero suddenly. "What if, what if, what _if_, we all go lookin' for Innocence, hee, and the Boss gets home first and doesn't find us here, hee?"

There's a long silence, and Tyki looks at Road, kind of surprised. "That…is actually quite a sensible question."

"I told you Jasdero was clever," I tell him quietly.

"I know," says Road. "Tyki and I can head off to find the Earl. Jasdevi, you stay here with your little friends and keep an eye out for Skin, Lulubelle, the Earl and so on."

"Aw man," groans David. "That's so unfair! Why don't we get to come?"

"Because you invited these two girls here, now they're your responsibility," says Tyki. He seems to think he's clever but I'm not so sure. Duh, me and Liz weren't _invited _here at all. It's not a _party_.

"But you got to go with the Boss yesterday," whines David.

"Ooh, that's another thing," says Road, like he's just reminded her of something. "The Earl was expecting you and Dero to wait here at home, so he might get kind of irritated if he meets you waaaay out there…"

"All right, fine, we'll stay," grumbles David.

"Bring me back a present, hee!" pleads Jasdero.

Tyki sighs and puts his funny big black hat back on. It makes his head look like a chimney. "All right Jasdero. I'll bring you another exorcist heart so you and David can throw it each other again."

Jasdero shakes his head; his blonde hair goes all over the place. "I don't want another icky heart. I want a _good_ present!"

"I know," says Road. "We'll bring you back an exorcist, how's that? A nice fresh exorcist for you to play with."

"Okay," he smiles.

"God. Such a pain," mutters Tyki, but he does pat Jasdero and David on the heads before he leaves, and I guess that even though he acts all pissy towards them they _are_ his family.

"Byeeee!" laughs Road, and takes Tyki's hand.

He walks into the sky.

How _funny!_

"Liz, Liz, he's flying, he's flying!"

"I know Patty." She sounds tired. She walks away from me and sits down heavily, leaning against a big tree. David watches Tyki and Road until they disappear and then he tears his coat off and starts climbing the nearest tree. I guess he's bored.

"Jasdero, how come he can fly?"

"Because…because…"

Ha ha! He makes such a _cute_ face when he's not sure. Jasdero sure is cute.

I told David he was cute, but Jasdero's definitely cuter. I think David's nice-looking but he doesn't make you want to cuddle him like Jasdero does. Liz thinks I don't know all this stuff about boys, but I've read a lot of her silly romance books - which are _reeeaally_ boring, by the way - and I understand a lot of it pretty well. Well enough to know that Kidd's what a lot of people might call handsome. _I_ don't think so, he's too posh and silly, but I know Liz does, I've seen her looking at him when she thinks no one will notice.

I wonder if I should tell her that Kidd thinks she's pretty? He would probably get mad at me. But I think it would be better if Liz knew, because it's nice to know these things.

Jasdero shakes me from my thoughts by sprinkling leaves all over me. I blink, and brush them out of my face.

"Whatchu thinking about, Patty?"

"Stuff."

"Good stuff?"

"I don't know."

He puts more leaves in my hair. "Why not, hee?"

"Because it could be good, and it could be bad. It all depends."

"Maybe it _could_ be bad but it _should_ be good." He smiles as he says this.

"No it _should _be good because someone thinks Liz is pretty but it _would_ be bad if I told her that because he _could _get angry."

"Oh," he says thoughtfully. It's strange but I think he understands me a lot better than Liz does sometimes.

"Do _you _think my big sis is pretty?" I ask him. I like to ask everyone this, because _I_ think she's beautiful but I like to hear other people say it and anyway, it makes Liz feel good to know people like her and I like to keep Liz happy.

"I don't know pretty."

"Pretty is nice-looking," I explain.

"Am _I_ pretty?" he asks me.

"No, silly," I giggle, because he's being stupid, but in a funny way. "_Girls _are pretty. You're _cute_."

He blinks. "I'm cute?"

"D'you live under a rock or something? Hey, David!"

"What?" He suddenly appears from the tree, hanging upside down.

"Do _you_ think Liz is pretty?"

"No," he says without even hesitating.

I pick up a rock and throw it at him, and I _never _miss. It hits him right smack bang on the nose.

"Ow!"

"Is _Tyki_ cute?" asks Jasdero, he's still trying to work out what I'm talking about.

"No, he's more _handsome_," I say slowly, 'cuz this is more Liz's area than mine. "Hey sis, is Tyki handsome?""Yeah, sure, why not," she grumbles, clearly not listening but sitting slumped with her eyes closed, trying to take a nap.

"And Road is pretty because she's a girl?"

"If you want," I say, because I don't want to talk about Road, she's scary.

"Is David pretty, cute, or handsome?" asks Jasdero curiously.

David narrows his eyes at me, still upside-down.

"No…" I say slowly, trying to remember this one word I heard Liz use once ages ago. I'm still not quite sure what it means. Kidd didn't like it though, and I think David deserves to be punished after what he said about Liz not being pretty. "David can be _sexy."_

He falls out of the tree with a loud bang.


	8. Chapter 8 Didn't Mean to Offend

**Liz**

I don't need this, I don't need a conversation right now. To be honest, most of what Patty was saying to me went in one ear and right out the other. Something about Tyki, and Jasdero being cute? Whatever, I'm _tired_ and I just want a break.

It doesn't look like I'm gonna get one though. David appears in front of me, swinging upside-down from the tree by his legs. His hair is hanging down below his head and he's got a rather frantic looking squirrel in his hands. "Bet I can turn this thing inside-out."

"Yes, I'm sure you could," I yawn, because I don't want to start an argument right now.

"Hey, if I do, you have to eat it."

"That's disgusting," I tell him. He really needs someone to teach him proper manners. "Just let it go."

"C'mon, I bet you've never seen an inside-out squirrel before."

"I have no plans to either," I snap, folding my arms. "Put it down."

The squirrel starts squeaking desperately, its eyes bulging as it wriggles fruitlessly in his grip. David pulls a face and lobs it across the clearing. I see it disappear into the bushes and hope it's okay.

Above me David grabs the branch and swings over 'til he's the right way up and then slides off to land next to me. "You're no fun, you know that?"

"Oh, torturing helpless woodland animals is fun, is it?"

He picks up a stick and starts drawing shapes in the dirt. "It's not _torturing_ if we kill them afterwards."

Is he serious?! I look away from him and watch Jasdero chase Patty around the clearing for a bit. It's amazing how active he is considering he's immobilized in one arm.

At one point, Jasdero pauses and glances at David, who shakes his head. "Maybe later, Jas."

I frown. "You know, you never explained how you do that."

"Do what?" he asks absent-mindedly, spearing a beetle on his stick.

"That…mind-reading thing," I say, waving my hands around my temple. "Can you and Jasdero communicate through thought or something?"

He looks at me carefully, like he's trying to decide if he can be bothered with me or not, and then nods. "Yeah, that's it."

"You can read minds?"

"I can read Jasdero's."

What a relief. "So you can't read mine? Or Patty's?"

"Nope." He notices my pleased expression. "Why? Have you got a massive secret or something?"

"No, it's just…that would be too weird."

"Can't you and Patty do anything? I mean, besides the freakish transforming thing."

"Oh, _we're_ the freaks?" I say, laughing, because he has no right to call _us_ freakish.

"I dunno where you come from, but here, that transforming thing? It's not normal."

"Well where _I _come from, it is."

Jasdero's caught Patty and he's trying to tickle her with handfuls of grass and keep her still at the same time, but he's only got one arm available so she quickly escapes and starts chasing him instead. She can be such a child sometimes.

"Must be one weird world," muses David, throwing the stick to one side. "Sounds like you've got people-weapons and Death Gods running around all over the place."

"I told you, he's _not_ a Death God," I snap. We are _not_ going into that again.

"Who isn't?"

David's clearly less observant (or perhaps just more self-absorbed) than his brother. I take my hat off and start twiddling it in my hands. "You know, our friend. Death the Kidd."

"Weird name."

"Is everything just _weird_ to you?" When he doesn't reply, I take a deep breath and carry on. "Like I said, Kidd's a Shinigami, which _isn't_ the same thing," I say loudly as David opens his mouth. He closes it slowly and draws his knees up to his chest, resting his chin on them. He's still filthy from when Patty ambushed him.

"You sure do talk about Kidd a lot," he comments, chewing on his fingernail. "How come?"

I'm silent for a moment, because I'm trying to work that out myself. "I guess…I guess I just…miss him."

"How d'you know?"

"What?" I sit up and look right at David, completely thrown by this odd question. "What d'you mean, how do I know?"

"How do you know that you miss him?"

Is he being serious? "Haven't you ever missed anyone?"

"No."

"Isn't there anyone you care about, who's not always there for you?"

"The only person I care about is Jasdero. And he's _always_ there."

"No parents? _Nothing_?" He shrugs. What _is_ this Noah thing? I thought that they were all one big family or something, but I'm clearly wrong. Something's happened to David and his brother somewhere, and left them…different. And I mean that besides the grey skin and holes-in-the-forehead thing. Their behaviour, their ideals…they're not _normal._

"We don't need parents," says David carelessly. "Who does?"

"Of course you need parents," I snap. Seriously, how old is he? He looks about fifteen at least, but a lot of the time he behaves like a petulant child.

Sort of like Kidd, except Kidd's not into turning squirrels inside out. I wish he was here, I wish he was here to tell Patty she was messing up her clean clothes, and to scream at David for being horribly asymmetric, and to count the stitches on Jasdero's mouth to make sure they were perfect.

"You might not like being told what to do, but you _need_ it," I tell him. "It's for your own good."

"Like I said, you're no fun."

"_I_ grew up with no parents," I say indignantly. "It's _hard_."

"Oh, boo hoo."

I feel I'm getting nowhere. "Are you sure you're human?"

"You_ know_ what we are, we're Noah."

"I still don't get what that means. Does being a Noah completely strip you of your sanity then?"

He scowls at me. "You saying I'm messed up?"

"You are a bit odd, David." I plonk my hat on his head, and he glares at me from under the brim. Although I'd rather die that admit it to him, he does look _scary_ when he glowers like that. The fact that his dark eye makeup highlights his freaky gold eyes doesn't help.

He doesn't take the hat off though. "Maybe _we're_ normal, and you're the odd ones."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." I smile to myself as I turn away to watch Patty again. I'm glad she's getting on so well with Jasdero. It makes me feel like this whole mad adventure hasn't been a complete catastrophe. "I think Patty kind of likes your brother."

David shrugs. "He says he likes her too."

I don't think he's quite got the gist of what I'm saying. "You know, Patty _likes_ Jasdero."

"I heard you."

I glance sideways at him, and wonder if there's any point even trying to explain. "She called him cute. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"She's weird?"

I punch him on the shoulder. "No, idiot. She likes Jasdero."

David sits back and tucks his arms behind his head. "You must love the sound of your own voice, 'cuz you sure do repeat yourself a lot."

He's such an arrogant little git. "No, _duh_, when someone like _likes_ someone else it means they…they _fancy_ them." He gives me a blank look. Stupid as well as egotistic. What a charmer.

"It's like another word for love," I explain with a sigh, although I gotta admit that _love_ seems a bit of a strong word to use in this case.

"I don't know about love."

Are all the Noah this…this _ignorant?_ He doesn't know what a _fridge_ is, for crying out loud! What is _wrong_ with him?

"You must."

Again he shrugs. Without his coat, he looks strangely smaller, and a lot more fragile. I suppose it's because he's so thin. "Noah don't love," he says bluntly, without any sort of remorse or feeling.

I look back at Jasdero and Patty. He's found a ladybird and they're both lying on their stomachs together, watching it crawl slowly across the ground. Except that Jasdero's not, his eyes are fixed on Patty as she prods the ladybird along with a twig while telling him a story about bugs at high-speed. I've mentioned this before, I'm sure I have, but he has a _massive _smile, and he's wearing it now as he watches my sister.

I hug my knees. "I don't think that's true, David."

***

**Jasdero**

I never knew that this was called a ladybug. I seen loads of bugs everywhere all the time but I never knew they all had _names_. They're all just bugs to me, 'til Debi squishes them and then they're splats. I wave my feet over my head and wonder how much else I don't know about the world.

"And there's a song," explains Patty - she's ever so clever, knowing all this - as she tickles the ladybug. "It's a song about a ladybug that goes 'ladybird ladybird, fly away home, your house is on fire and your children alone'."

What a strange poem. "Why does the ladybug have to go home?"

"To save her children, silly."

"Does _this_ ladybug have children?"

"Of course," she says, and the ladybug suddenly flies away. "She's going to visit them now."

I like that idea, that the ladybird has a family and something to do. I wonder if she'll save them from the fire in time. "Do you know any more songs like that, hee?"

Patty draws a cat in the dirt. It's very good. "I don't think so. I'm not good at songs."

I blink. "But I like it when you sing."

"Thanks, Dero."

There's a silence for a bit, 'cuz Patty's concentrating on her drawings and I've run out of things to say. Underneath a tree Liz is sitting with David and I think she's trying to explain something to him, she's waving her arms around and he looks really confused and a bit bored.

He's wearing her hat, which makes me laugh, 'cuz it doesn't really suit him. David hears my laugh, and scowls at me across the clearing, but he's not really angry, he's just really bored. Liz just doesn't like the same things as him.

Patty's finished her drawings and points them out to me. "That's a giraffe."

"What's a giraffe?"

She stares at me, and her mouth falls open. "You don't know about _giraffes?"_

"No."

"They're _huge_ animals with big long necks and yellow skin and - "

I sort of stop listening at this point, partly because I don't really understand what she's talking about and partly because I've just noticed how blue her eyes are again. It's a very pretty blue.

I just learned that word today, pretty.

I guess Patty must be pretty.

She thinks _I'm_ cute.

"Heeeellloooo?" I blink as I realise she's waving her hand in my face. Patty laughs at me, so of course I have to laugh too. "Wakey wakey, Jasdero!"

"Sorry, hee."

"What's up?"

"Your hair's nice like that," I blurt out 'cuz I kind of like her hair, all short and blonde. I wonder if having short hair's nice. "Should I make my hair short?"

"No," she says, sitting up and dusting herself down. "Your hair's good for plaiting. I wish _I_ had hair like yours, or like Liz's, her hair's so nice."

"David has short hair," I tell her, 'cuz I don't really know what else to say.

"I know."

"He cuts it himself, hee," I whisper, in case I'm not supposed to tell people this. "And sometimes he offers to do mine too, only I don't let him, 'cuz…'cuz…" I look over my shoulder, but there's no one there, just a bush. "I'm _scared_ of the scissors," I tell Patty. I never told no one this before, not even David, but I guess he knows anyway, but he pretends not to even though I know he thinks I'm a baby.

Patty giggles behind her hands. I feel a bit hurt by that, 'cuz I'm not kidding, I'm not, I really _am_ scared of the scissors. "It's not funny!"

"Why are you scared of _scissors_, silly?" she laughs, louder now. "They're not _scary_!"

"Yes they are!" I'm starting to get annoyed now, I like Patty, I _do_, but why is she laughing like this? I'm trying to be serious, I'm telling her one of my biggest secrets!

"What's so scary about them?" she sniggers. "They're just for cutting hair and paper an' material and things."

I don't say nothing, 'cuz I don't know what to say. It's just something that _scares_ me, even if I can't explain why. I frown and try to work it out. "They're scary…because…because….they cut…"

I hear Patty giggle again, and look back at her. She hides a smile behind her hand. "They can't cut _you_ silly, unless someone _makes _them."

"I….guess so."

"And David wouldn't hurt _you_."

"Of course he wouldn't."

"So there's nothing to be scared of!" she says all proud, beaming at me.

I don't believe her. They _are_ scary, I _know_ they are. I just can't remember why.

"Something…something bad about them…" I say really slowly. "They _hurt_, I know they do." I'm sure of this. "I hurt myself real bad with scissors once." I can remember something like that, and I remember it hurt a lot. More than I've ever hurt before.

Patty watches me closely, looking interested. "Really? Where? Here?" She touches my good arm, which is still bandaged too, and I pull it away from her. "I don't…think so."

I've never had a good memory, Tyki said so, and I've forgotten a lot about what me and Debi were like before we became Noah, before the Earl came along, and I don't care about it anyway. But the scissors…I screw my eyes shut. "I remember it hurting."

_No!_

I open my eyes real quick at that, 'cuz David's voice is so loud and so angry in my head that it actually hurts and makes me go cross-eyed and fall over backwards. Upside-down I see him jumping to his feet and shoving a confused Liz out of the way and running over so fast that her hat falls off his head.

Patty looks up at him, surprised. I moan and I clutch my head, because wow, is David _angry_. I mean, I've seen him angry, everyone has, he's an angry person, but this time it's so much anger it's painful.

"Ahhh…Debi, you're hurting me."

_Shush, Jas_. But that's all I get from him. And this, this here is really strange, because I _always_ know everything that's going on in David's head, just like he knows everything in mine. We hide nothing from each other ever. Except now. I can hear David's voice, of course I can, I can see his feelings, like always, but there's…_something_ else, something like a wall he's put up, stopping me from seeing right into him and knowing everything like I should.

I can still see the anger though. I'm still lying on my back and I can see him standing over me, glaring at Patty. "Noo, Debi…" I tell him. "Don't hurt Patty, she hasn't done nothing."

"What's wrong with you?" asks Liz, wandering over._ She_ doesn't know what's happening to him.

And all the time David's cutting me off from his thoughts, which is strange for me, 'cuz he's nearly always thinking of something and it's usually a picture, of food or someone he wants dead or whatever, and now there's nothing except anger and…_fear_? What could possibly scare David so much? He's never scared of anything, he's my brother.

I sit up and gape at him. He's trembling. He looks at Patty, and back at Liz, and then at Patty again. "That's enough."

"Enough of what, hee?" I ask.

"Shut up, Jasdero!" he shouts at me, and grabs me roughly - I squeal, 'cuz my arm's still broken - and pushes me away from Patty, sitting me down far away from her. "You stay _here_ Jas, don't talk to her."

And that _is_ strange.

***

**Patty**

I always said that David was mean, but I never knew he was this mean. I wasn't doing anything to Jasdero, we were having fun. Why's he gotta take my new friend away from me? Jasdero looks scared though, and I've never seen him scared of David before. I don't really know what's going on, and that frightens me, so I run and stand behind Liz, because she's stronger and braver and cleverer than me anyway.

Liz stares at David. He looks away. I see that he's clenched his fists real hard, and his arms are shaking.

"Are you…are you - " Liz doesn't quite know what to say. I've never seen David upset before.

"Shut up," he says in a short voice, and walks back to his coat and pulls it on. Except that it just makes him look even smaller and weaker because it's so big and he's so small.

Jasdero sits where David put him, pushing sticks into the dirt so they stay upright. I want to do that too. But Liz takes my hand and squeezes it tight and I realise that she's worried about David, but she needs me there with her, so I stay put.

David disappears behind a tree. Liz slowly follows, and I look over my shoulder as we do, because we're kind of leaving Jasdero all alone and that's not fair, but he's humming to himself and smiling again so I guess it's okay for now.

David's put his big fluffy hood up again, so we can't see his face, which confuses me for a moment, and then he suddenly sniffs slightly and he wipes his face on his sleeve, and I see just how upset he really is.

It's weird, David doesn't seem like the type to cry easily.

Suddenly he turns away, and starts wiping his face harder. "What do you want? Go away!" he shouts, his voice is funny and muffled by his coat.

"Did I do something wrong?" I ask quietly, because Liz taught me manners, and she told me to be nice to people who are really sad. I don't think David's _sad_ exactly, but there's definitely something upsetting him.

"Yeah, now leave me alone!"

Liz is silent. She's sort of shocked too, because we've never seen David cry before.

He's stopped already though, and he looks right at me from under the hood, which scares me a little so I move further behind Liz. His eyes are still kind of wet and there's messy black makeup smeared all around them like he's a panda, but I don't laugh because he doesn't look funny any more, he just looks frightening.

"You said, 'that's enough'," says my big sis eventually. She's speaking really gently, like she does to Kidd when he's spazzed out completely and tries to hurt himself.

"Shut up!"

"What did Patty do wrong?" insists Liz. "Do you not like other people talking to Jasdero?"

"If you're jealous, that's okay, we can all be fr - " Liz puts a hand over my mouth and shuts me up.

I stay quiet.

"Just get away from me!" he shouts at Liz, shoving her hard, and she stumbles back into me, and steps on my foot, which hurts. "And Jas! Get away from both of us! We never asked to be your friends! We hate you!"

That's more than I can bear. "You're a liar! Jasdero doesn't hate _me_!"

"_I_ hate you!" he yells, and he takes a step closer really fast, and I scuttle away because he's scaring me properly now.

"I hate you, and Jasdero would too if he…if he had any idea about…" David stops and suddenly ducks to the floor, and buries his face in his knees and rocks back and forth slightly. He looks like he's gone mad.

"What?" says Liz softly, and she crouches down to his level.

"We hate you," he says, quieter now, and muffled.

"That's not why you wanted Patty away from Jasdero," says Liz slowly. She's cleverer than me at this sort of thing so I stay silent, watching.

"You don't know anything."

"You're not making it easy," says Liz a little snappishly, and I shake my head at her to remind her to keep her temper.

She tries to pat David's shoulder, because this helps Kidd sometimes, but David's not Kidd and he whacks her hand away hard. He still refuses to look at us.

"What did Patty _say_," asks Liz more determinedly.

There's a really long silence of like five minutes, and then _finally_ David lifts his head very slowly. He doesn't look at Liz though, he just stares at the ground.

"Jasdero's frightened of scissors," he says eventually.

"Yeah," I say, sort of surprised that he's bringing this up. "Yeah, that's right."

Liz looks confused. "Jasdero told me so earlier," I explain.

"Did he…he didn't…say _why,_" mumbles David.

"No…" I say slowly. "No, he didn't. He…" I remember some of what Jasdero told me. "He didn't really know."

"That's right, he doesn't," mutters David, rocking again. "He doesn't remember."

"Remember what?" asks Liz, looking a little worried. She's still kneeling next to him and I can tell she wants to pat him or hug him or _something _to make him better, but like I said, David's not very huggable.

"We…" David scowls, and wipes his nose on his sleeve. "I don't wanna have to tell you this."

"But we want to know."

"We weren't always…like this. Noah," he says, jabbing a finger to his scarred forehead. My mouth goes all round in astonishment; I didn't know that.

"Really?"

"No. We used to be…normal. Like you." For the first time he glances up at Liz, and then quickly back at the floor again. "Well. Not just like you. But normal."

"So what…what happened?" asks Liz nervously.

"It doesn't matter," he snaps, I can tell he's sensitive about this. "We just changed, alright? But…well…it wasn't a _good_ change."

He puts a finger in his mouth and bites on it, hard. "It hurt."

"And that's - "

But David suddenly carries on real fast, talking over Liz. "And people didn't like it and got scared of us and…and hated us for it and it upset Jasdero, it upset him a lot. I had to…I had to tell him it was all a game. I told him they were just pretending. That they didn't really mean it and sometime everyone would laugh about it and we'd all…be okay again."

Liz's eyes go all gooey. She's always so soft.

"And he believed me." David's bitten right _through _his finger. It's bleeding over his lip but he hasn't really noticed. He's staring blankly ahead of him, not seeing me, not seeing Liz. "_I_ almost believed me. And Jasdero starting laughing at people, because he thought that underneath, they were laughing with him. But they were just scared."

I wonder where scissors come into this.

"And when the…the mind-reading started…well, it got harder. For me. To keep him happy." He licks his finger and starts chewing on the sleeve of his coat instead. "Jasdero got frightened that he was hearing my thoughts, so…I lied to him again. I said it was a magic trick, that we could do magic together."

"And he never guessed anything?" asks Liz in a hushed voice.

David shakes his head. "But it was a mistake." His lip trembles slightly, and he angrily bites it so hard it bleeds. Although I'm still a bit cross with him, I feel really bad. _Why_ does he keep hurting himself like this?

"Jasdero got real proud of our 'magic trick' and started trying to tell our…our parents."

Liz makes a surprised face. Then she settles down again. I guess _everyone_ must have had parents at _some _point.

"Mother…she didn't mind. We were always both odd anyway. But it frightened our father. He didn't like it. He'd try and…and beat the idea out of Jasdero. Make him stop talking about it."

Liz looks sick. I _feel_ sick.

"Jasdero didn't get what he'd done wrong. He thought he was magic. So he didn't stop talking about it."

"No - " I don't know what Liz is looking so horrified about.

David hides his face in his hands. "He thought Dad was pretending like everyone else, playing the game that _I_ had convinced him existed. So he kept at it, and we got worse and worse. We started…_seeing_ things, and _doing_ things. People got so scared, they wanted us dead at one point."

I've never heard David talk so much. But he's being quiet about it, and I get the feeling that he _needs_ someone to tell this to, and who better than Liz, my sister, who can make anything better?

"Dad couldn't take it. He started drinking again. People were blaming _him _for what was happening to us and even suspected him of being the same. I kept out of his way, and I tried to make Jasdero do the same."

David's shoulders start shaking slightly, but when he speaks, it's with a really steady voice. "I didn't do a good enough job and one day Jasdero started trying to play the game with Dad again. Dad was already really drunk, and he just couldn't bear it."

"You saw all of this?"

"I…I was upstairs. Dad hit mother a lot too, and I was helping her dress her bruises. I heard most of it."

"Oh, David."

He screws his face up. "And Dad attacked Jasdero, he hurt him real bad. I don't know everything he did to him, but he smashed Jasdero's head against the wall and cupboards, and he tried to cut his hands off with a broken vase, but I guess he was too drunk to do it properly, and all the time I could hear Jasdero, and he was screaming and still _laughing_ and asking when the game was finished."

_I'm_ crying now, and I don't usually cry at sad stuff. I think about Jasdero, and his happy smile, and his strange laugh, and his big, wide eyes.

"Me and Jas had always freaked the hell out of Dad. Dad just wanted Jasdero to shut up, and I had to leave mother as she was and see what was happening, and I heard him shouting at Jas, and…" David swallows hard. "He was so desperate to make Jasdero quiet that he got the scissors and the needles from mother's sewing kit and he…he mutilated Jasdero's mouth."

Liz sobs, and I sit next to her and start stroking her arm to try and make her feel better. I'd do the same to David, but _his_ eyes are slightly wet too again and I don't think he wants me noticing.

"I didn't go in though," says David all hollowly. He looks empty and tired. "I stayed on the stairs, just listening. I was too scared."

"Of course you were," says Liz, but her lip's trembling.

"Don't say that like it's okay," he snarls. "I didn't help Jasdero. I waited until Dad left him and went out again, and _then_ I went in after him and tried to make him better, but I couldn't. I put bandages on his arms and pulled the needles out his mouth but I couldn't do anything else because I wasn't no doctor."

I look at David and try and imagine him younger, scared, looking at his broken and bleeding twin brother on the floor and not being able to do anything. I hug Liz tighter; I'll never let anyone hurt her, _ever._

"What did you do?"

"I tore my trouser leg off," says David. "And I went back upstairs, and I told mother that I'd ripped my clothes playing, and then I asked her to show me how to sew them back together again."

"But…" Liz wipes her eyes. "Why didn't you tell her what had happened?"

"She was just as scared of Dad. And she was slightly mad by the end, she wouldn't have been able to take it. So anyway, she showed me. And I went straight back down and did my best to fix Jasdero's mouth, but I didn't do a very good job."

I have a sudden vision of Jasdero smiling at me, with the lumpy shapes of his stitches splitting up his otherwise perfect grin.

"And I took him and I ran."

I think David's finally finished talking. He hugs his knees tight and lowers his gaze. Liz hugs me back and I wait for her to stop crying.

"And Jasdero doesn't remember?" asks Liz eventually.

"He was smacked about too hard," says David dully. "He was in a lot of pain when he woke up, and I didn't know how to tell him what had happened. I got frightened that he'd see it in my memories, and he was starting to get better by himself, so I did my best to hide it from him. Once the Noah overtook our bodies completely, he healed properly, but the stitches stayed where they were. I couldn't do anything about them."

Again he sniffs slightly, but his eyes are dry and cold once more. "And I don't want Jasdero remembering. It would completely destroy him, I'm sure of it."

I stay quiet for a long time. Then I very carefully pat David's arm, just once. "I'm sorry I mentioned scissors, David."

Liz nods slowly at me, and I know I've done the right thing. He shrugs me off, but he doesn't try and hit me this time. "Whatever, Patty."

I get to my feet, and tap Liz's shoulder. "I'm gonna go play with Jasdero, Liz." She blinks at me, and glances back at David. He's drawing little circles in the earth with one finger.

Liz sighs, and strokes my hand. "Go on. I'm going to make sure David's okay."

I leave her behind, talking to David in a low voice, with him still ignoring her but not asking her to go away like before, and head back to the clearing.

Jasdero's right where we left him, but he's lying on his side and he's fallen asleep.

I stand over him and watch him.

He even smiles when he's sleeping.

I sit down as quietly as I can, but obviously not quietly enough, because he stirs suddenly and sits up, rubbing one eye. "Mmph…where'd you go, Patty?"

"Oh, here and there."

"David didn't hurt you, did he, hee?" That laugh he does doesn't seem quite the same to me after hearing David's story. It's still cute and sort of funny, but it's also really, really sad.

"No, he didn't." I look right at Jasdero, and he puts his head to one side, look at me questioningly. I can't look at those stitches any more, so I look at his eyes instead. They're the same as before, at least, all big and round and golden, but I can see the way they bulge slightly and roll in their sockets and I understand that Jasdero is mad. He might not remember, but it still did something to him.

I can see everything in those eyes, everything that everyone has but also something less, what he's missing from his head. And, according to David, he can't ever get that back. Ever.

I throw my arms around him - careful to avoid his bad arm - and hug him tight. I might not be able to tell him what's happened, but I can do my best to make him feel better about it.

"Patty?" he asks in surprise.

I say nothing. David told me not to. He's got no shirt on, so I've got my face pressed against his bare chest, and I can hear a steady thumping sound.

Jasdero might not have a soul, but at least he has a heart.

**[Hey y'all, I don't normally like adding little notes like this into a story, but I just wanted to apologise for the excess of angst Also, I'm considering writing a separate fanfic or doujin just for my idea of Jasdevi's past, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't, like, steal or replicate it. Cheers!]**


	9. Chapter 9 You Bloody Foulmouth

**David**

"Are you okay now?"

No.

"…I'm sure Jasdero's fine."

Sure he is.

"Patty's looking after him."

She doesn't know how to.

"It was brave of you, what you did for him."

No it wasn't.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

No.

"Hey." I feel Liz's hand on my shoulder, and she shakes me slightly, but I don't look up from the ground. I just keep running my fingertip through the dirt, 'cuz these circles I'm drawing are _important_, they mean I don't have to look at anyone, they mean that nothing else exists.

Liz's hand keeps trying to drag me back into reality. She squeezes my shoulder in what I guess is supposed to be a reassuring manner, but it just irritates me.

"We can just forget this whole thing, if you like."

"Please."

She takes her hand off me, and sits back, staring. I'm not looking at her, but I can tell she's staring, I can feel her eyes on me.

I feel weirdly empty now that I've told someone everything. All my life, I've held on to that stupid story, having nightmares about it from time to time, desperately hiding it from Jasdero, and now it's out there and someone else knows it, and that feels strange. What's stranger is that it wasn't Tyki I told it to, or Road, or Skin, or the Earl or_ anyone_ in our family, but these two blonde girls from another goddamned universe who don't even know what an exorcist is.

"David."

"What."

"Look up."

"No."

"Look up, you idiot." Suddenly Liz puts her fingers under my chin and forces my head up. I scowl at her. "What?"

She holds up a tissue. "You need to wipe your face."

"You don't tell me what to do."

Liz tuts impatiently. She's so _bossy_. "You've got smeared eyeliner all over your eyes."

"Leave me alone."

She waves the tissue irritatingly in my face. "You look like a panda."

"I like pandas."

"Really?"

I hesitate. "…No."

"There you are, then." She waves the tissue at me again.

"Stop that!" I shove her hand down. It doesn't matter how _nice_ she is to me, she's still so _irritating._ "What's your problem?"

Liz sighs. "Do you want me to wipe your face for you?"That does it. _Anything_ would be better than that. "All right, fine," I snap at her, and I snatch the tissue, ramming it into my eyes. I pretend not to see Liz smiling triumphantly.

When my eyes are clean again I toss the blackened tissue to the ground and get to my feet. I've left Jasdero along for too long, we _never _spend time apart, we're _always_ together.

I walk off, leaving Liz behind, but she gets up too and runs after me. I pull my coat tighter around myself - it's getting kind of cold - and ignore her.

"Heya, Debi!"

"Hey, Jas."

I blink in surprise, 'cuz Jasdero's arm's not in his sling anymore. Behind me, Liz gives a funny little jump of surprise and shrieks. I'm not expecting it, so I jump too, and that pisses me off, so I turn around and yell, "Cut that out!"

"Sorry, David, it's just…Jasdero!" cries Liz, running over. "What are you _doing_, you're going to hurt yourself! Put your arm back!"

"Nuu, Liz, hee!" he laughs, dancing out of her reach. "Watch!" We all watch as he waves his arm stiffly over his head. "It's all better, see?"

"I told you so!" laughs Patty, clapping her hands. "See Liz, I said that it must be better by now and so I told Jasdero to try using his arm again, and see, I was right!"

She looks real proud of herself for this.

Liz doesn't. "For god's _sake_ Patty, what were you thinking? What if his arm hadn't been okay? He would have hurt himself!"

As if to prove her point, Jasdero suddenly squeals in pain, and drops to his knees, cradling his bad arm.

"Jasdero!" I run over to him and crouch by his side. His eyes are already slightly watery. "It still hurts, David."

"Then keep it still, you idiot," I tell him, whacking his head, but gently, 'cuz however stupid he may be, he's still my brother and I still don't want to hurt him.

I lift his jacket and I see that the bruise has almost faded, which is good. "I guess the Innocence has nearly left you, huh Jas?"

"Yeah, Debi."

"That's good."

"Yeah, Debi."

I sigh. "C'mon, put your arm back." He does as I tell him, and wipes his nose. Then he catches sight of me, and makes a little surprised noise. "Hey, Debi, where's your makeup, hee?"

"Oh…uh, it came off."

"Why, hee?"

I bite my lip. Crap. "Uh…Liz told me to take it off."

"I did not," she exclaims behind me, so I turn and draw my finger across my neck, telling her to _shut up_.

"You weren't crying, were you?" demands Jasdero, 'cuz even if I try he still knows when I'm hiding stuff.

"No!"

He doesn't believe me though, and a worried look crosses his face. "Why? Why? No one's died, have they, hee? Is it Road? Is she okay? Or is Tyki dead? He's not dead, is he, Debi?"

I shake my head to reassure him. "No one's died Jas, or else you'd be crying too."

He nods slowly at that. "You're right, David." He grins at me. "You're so smart."

"That's me."

Patty snorts behind me, and I turn and glare at her. "What's so funny?"

"No-thing," she sings innocently, but I don't believe her.

"You saying I'm not smart?"

"David, calm down," say Liz. "Patty's just teasing."

"I'm _not_ stupid, you hear me?" I tell Patty anyway, 'cuz Liz may be older than me but she's not in charge here.

"Really?"

"Oh, shut the fuck up!"

At this, Patty gasps and glances over to Liz. "Sis! Sis! David said a _bad word_!"

"So what?" I shout at her, which just makes her laugh even more. "And he's angry with me, sis! Again!"

"Am not!"

"She's right, David," says Liz, and to my irritation I realise that _she's _laughing at me too. "You really need to learn how to keep your temper."

"Bullshit."

"And you need to quit it with the language."

"Oh, like you're so perfect," I sneer at her, folding my arms.

"Liz swears, Liz swears!" shouts Patty, waving one arm in the air. "I know she does, she swore last week!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Yah huh!" says Patty. "You dropped a plate, and then you said…you said…" Patty stops, and presses her hands to her lips like she's trying to keep her laugh in. "I can't say it, sis!"

I turn to Liz and grin at her. She's not as perfect as she likes to think she is. "Told you."

"Alright, so I swear once in a while," she snaps, which makes me grin even more. I've realised that Liz gets angry when she knows she's wrong. It's actually pretty funny. She doesn't like me grinning at her, and she lashes out at me, so I duck and her arm just brushes the top of my head. "Stop laughing!"

"I'm not!"

"Just because I swear like once a month - "

"Liar!" interrupts Patty, who's cuddling Jasdero once more. He's a lot more…touchy-feely with her than other people. I wonder if that's weird.

"Fine, twice a month," growls Liz. "That does _not_ mean it's okay for _you_ to swear with every other sentence!"

"What are you, my mother?"

Jasdero and Patty shriek with laughter at that. Liz slaps her palm to her face and groans to herself. "It's not fair, I can't deal with all three of you at once."

"No one's asking you to, bitch," I tell her.

"Don't swear! It's rude!"

"No fucking shit." This is fun.

Liz glares at me for a couple of minutes, and then turns away, running a hand through her long hair. "Fine, whatever. Have it your way."

I grin at Jasdero, and he gives me a thumbs up. Score one to us.

***

**Liz**

I am making an effort to like David, I _am_. I do feel like I'm starting to get used to him and his constant swearing, and his irritating arrogance, and extremely short temper, not to mention downright _violent_ habits, and aggressive behaviour and…

Okay, fine, he annoys the hell out of me. I know that I'm never gonna get him to do what I say, but I would appreciate it if he just didn't starting mouthing off in front of Patty. I don't like her learning bad language, although god knows she's gotten enough off me, whatever I told David.

I glare over my shoulder at him, but he's laughing about something with Jasdero now, who's got Patty clinging lovingly to his neck. Oh dear. I have a feeling that this is going to be a problem. When Patty decides she likes something, she never, _ever _lets it go. I am not looking forward to telling her she's going to have to leave Jasdero behind.

_Pit. Pat. Pit. Pat_

Huh? I glance skywards, and a massive drop of water catches me right in the eye.

"Ow! Fuck!" I slap a hand to my face and rub my eye socket furiously.

"You bloody hypocrite!" I hear David howl at me.

"Rain! David, it's raining, hee!"

"No it's not."

"Yeah it is!"

"No, it's n - " David's cut short by a sudden pattering of water on the leaves. "Well shit Jas, you're right."

"Told ya!"

As I clear my eye of rainwater, my vision slowly returns. Patty's standing next to me, so close that I have to jump back abruptly. "Argh! Patty, don't _do_ that!"

"Sowwy, sis!" She catches my arm, preventing me from staggering backwards into a tree. "It's raining."

"Yeah, I gathered that." It's coming down pretty thick and fast now, and so I groan, and back under a tree. "I _hate_ wet weather."

"Whee!" Jasdero grabs David's hand and swings his twin round and round the clearing in a slightly ridiculous dance. "It's raining! Raining! Hee hee!"

David starts laughing too, and soon even Patty and I have to join in. Suddenly, Jasdero sneezes, which brings him to an abrupt halt, dropping David's hand. "Cold, Debi."

"Yeah, Jas."

Jasdero wipes his nose, and blinks. Little black rivers are running down his cheeks now, rainwater stained by his eyeliner. David sighs in exasperation and yanks Jasdero's jacket hood up for him, crushing that weird antennae flat.

Jasdero's eyes go all massive. "O-ohh."

"Yes, Jasdero," says David, moving to stand next to me and Patty in the shelter of the tree. "That's what the hood's for."

"_Ohhh_."

I clutch my own arms and scowl at nothing in particular. My shirt doesn't exactly cover a lot of my body, and I stupidly went out not wearing my jacket, so I'm goddamned _freezing_.

I tug at David's sleeve. "Hey, give us your coat."

"Nothing doing, bitch."

"That's what you're calling me now, is it?"

Patty clings to my arm tightly. "Sis, how come he's not allowed to call me b…b…that, but he's allowed to say it to you?"

"He's not," I explain. "But he's a _rude little asshole _who _doesn't know any better_." I say these last words in a loud voice.

David ignores me.

"Lookit me, I'm getting all wet!" Jasdero's taken his hood down again and is spinning around on the spot, rain plastering his blonde hair to his face and neck. "David, David, I'm having a bath!"

"You'll catch cold, Jasdero," I call to him.

He ignores me.

Until he sneezes again.

We all shift a little bit to the left to make room for Jasdero under the tree. He grabs the hem of his brother's oversized coat and blows his nose noisily.

David pushes his now slightly damp hair out of his face and glares skywards. "Great. It's raining real bad now."

He's right. Patty sniffs and huddles closer to me - she doesn't like wet weather - and I put an arm around her. "Are we just going to stay here?"

"Not much else we can do."

"I want to go home," moans Jasdero, shaking his head like a dog and spraying us all with water.

"It don't exist no more, Dero," David reminds him.

"Oh yeah."

"_I_ want to go home," snivels Patty, rubbing her wet hair all over my forearm. "I miss Kidd, and Soul, and Maka, and Black Star, and Tsubaki, and - "

"Yes, yes," I interrupt her hurriedly, in case she starts going through every single person we know. "I miss 'em all too. But we're stuck here for the time being."

As I say this, my stomach squirms uncomfortably. What if…what if…we…we're stuck here…forever?

David guesses what I'm thinking. "Aw, you'll get used to it here. Aside from the odd exorcist invasion, and Road's homework, life's really all just one big party."

"Yeah, yeah, hee!"

Jasdero and David glance at each other, and then suddenly double over in laughter.

"Shut up! Stop making fun of us!" I yell. "This is serious! What if we really _can't_ get home?"

I wish I hadn't said that. Patty's mouth goes all wide in a perfect 'O' of shock and she squeezes my arm harder. "What? What? We can't get home? What?"

"No, I…I didn't mean that Patty."

"We're stuck? Noo!" Suddenly she lets go of me, and sinks to her knees, clutching her head. "Nooo! I want to go home! I want to go home!" Her sobs become lost in the drumming of the rain.

Jasdero and David stop laughing, and look at each other again. There's a brief moment of silence in which Jasdero puts his head to one side, and David shrugs, and then Jasdero shakes his head. I wonder what it feels like, being able to read your sibling's mind.

"Don't cry, Patty," I say, crouching down next to her.

"Yeah, hee!" Jasdero joins me on the floor and pats her back. "Every time you cry, a ladybug's house catches fire!"

Patty lifts her head and stares at him, tears mingling with the rain on her cheeks. "R-really?"

"Yup."

She sniffs and considers this. "I guess I better not cry then, huh?"

"No." He shrugs the sling over his head and hands it to her. Patty obediently takes it and wipes her nose clean.

Jasdero grins at her, and she tentatively smiles back.

"The ladybug's on her way to save her children right now, hee!"

"I know," she says, more happily.

I glance at David, eyebrows raised. He shrugs. "I wouldn't ask, if I were you."

Patty grabs my wrist and starts trying to hoist herself to her feet again, but the grass has gotten pretty slippery. Her heeled boots scrabble for a hold, and after a second she falls with a bump to the ground, yanking my arm down so sharply that I fall over too, and find myself staring at Jasdero's boots.

I sit up and rub my head. "Ow, Patty! Be more careful!"

She puts my hat back on my head and laughs at me.

***

**Jasdero**

Patty starts laughing again, and suddenly everything's all right 'cuz she's not crying anymore, and her laugh is the happiest sound I've heard in a long time. I stand up once more, pulling Liz and Patty up with me, which is hard 'cuz my arm is still kind of stiff. At least it works though.

I stick it above my head and wave it in case the others don't believe me. David puts his hand on my arm and pushes it down. "All right Jas, we get it."

It's still raining.

Raining _hard_.

There's a word for that, but I can't remember it, but I know it's in that funny song Road taught us, and that we used to sing it to Tyki when he was trying to take a nap while it rained, 'cuz he likes the sound of raindrops on the roof.

_Pouring, Jas_.

Is that it? I glance at David, and he nods at me. _Remember? It's raining, it's pouring…_

"Tyki-pon is snoring!" I say, 'cuz David's right, and I've just remembered the rest.

"He went to bed, and bumped his head."

"And couldn't get up in the mo-orning, hee!" I hi-five David. "It's pouring, David, it's pouring!"

"Damn straight, Dero!"

I pat my head, and I realise my hair's still soaking wet. It feels all gross on my neck and shoulders. See, this is why I don't wash often, it's 'cuz I don't like getting my hair all wet. Sometimes Road forces me into the bathroom though, 'cuz she says I smell so bad it's impossible to be around me. That's rude.

"How come your hair's not wet, Debitto?"

"Because I wasn't dancing in the rain like a loony," he says.

"David, what…what's _that_?" asks Liz suddenly, and she sounds scared again, so scared that David turns and follows her pointing finger, which I see is trembling slightly.

Liz sure does scare easily.

I squint through the rain with David, and I can just make out the shadowy form of an akuma hovering above the treetops. It's a level three though, which is probably why Liz didn't recognise it.

"What's that doing here?" asks David suspiciously. I shrug, and laugh.

"Maybe it's…Tyki and - and Road?" says Liz. Patty's eyes go wide at that and she steps behind her sister.

"I won't let Tyki hurt you, hee."

"What about Road?"

I don't know what to say to that. Road's in charge.

"Nah, it's not them," says David, pulling out his gun. I don't know how he knows this. David always pretends he knows things, even if he doesn't, and then if he's right anyway then he acts like he knew it all along. It makes me feel braver, 'cuz then I can trust him to set things straight.

The akuma soars overhead, but it's still really high up. After a moment it turns and flies back in the opposite direction.

"It's _looking_ for something, Debi." I hope we're not in trouble with the Earl. I don't want to be sent to bed with no supper again, even though that time really was David's fault, and not mine, but I still got into trouble anyway.

That happens a lot, actually.

"It's calling something," frowns David, cupping a hand to his ear.

We all listen. But the rain's drowning everything out.

The akuma swoops back again, and I catch its voice this time, very faint. "Lord Jasdevi?"

I look at David. "It wants _us_."

He bites his lip. "Do you think something's happened to the Earl and the others?"

"I dunno."

"Who's…Jasdevi?" asks Liz, frowning.

"We're Jasdevi, hee!"

"No, you're David and Jasdero."

"We're also Jasdevi," snaps David. He's getting pissy again, partly because he's sort of frightened.

_I am not, Jas!_

"Lord Jasdevi!" calls the akuma again.

David sticks the butt of his gun in his mouth and bites the metal hard. I can hear his teeth scraping on it. He bites things, his nails mainly, when he's frustrated.

I do too sometimes, but not as much 'cuz…well, it's hard to bite things with my mouth the way it is.

"We better go, Debi."

"I _know_, Jas."

The akuma soars downwards and disappears.

"It's looking for us."

"I _know_."

"We'll wait here," says Liz suddenly. "You guys…you go and see what it wants."

Patty giggles. "Sis, you could just admit that you're scared."

"Shut up," whimpers Liz. "So what if I am?"

"All right, fine," snarls David, and yanks his coat back onto his shoulders again. "C'mon Jasdero."

I follow him.

Just before we leave the clearing, I turn and wave at Liz and Patty. Patty waves back. Liz doesn't.

David pulls at my arm. "Come _on,_ Jas."

"Sorry, hee."

Whatever David might say to me, I can still tell that he's at least a little bit scared, 'cuz it sure would be bad if that akuma was bringing bad news. He lifts his chin like he's brave though, and leads the way through the rain.

I glance over my shoulder, just once. I can't see Liz or Patty no more.

David nudges me.

I can hear the akuma moving through the trees up ahead.

David takes a deep breath. "Ready, Jas?"

"…no."

He gives me a wobbly smile. "Me neither."

I wipe my face clean on my bandaged arms, and when I look down at them I can see black stains everywhere, from my makeup. As the rain blurs them I see pictures forming, there's a butterfly, and a house, and a rock, and another rock, and a leaf.

"Stop stalling, Jas."

"Sorry, hee."

We carry on walking towards the akuma. I take David's hand, 'cuz I'm cold, and worried, and I need someone to lead me.

He doesn't like me being all soft, and tries to shake my hand off. So I cling to his coat instead, and he lets me.

As the dark, blurry shape of the akuma slowly appears between the trees, I swallow, and wonder if it's brought good news, or bad news.


	10. Chapter 10 Things Get Gory

**Patty**

It's raining, so I've gotten all wet, and now I'm so, so _cold_. It's not fair. I huddle against Liz, teeth chattering, 'cuz she's really warm.

She puts her arms around me and pats my head. "You all right there, Pats?"

I giggle, because it's funny when she calls me that. "Yeah, Lizzy. Are you okay?"

"Yup."

I look up at her, but she's staring at the sky and the rain coming down really fast like a blur. I smile. "You're a liar, sis."

_Then_ she looks down at me. "What?"

I reach up and prod her nose, because I know it annoys her, and besides, there's a big drop of water on the end of it that was kind of annoying me. "You're _not_ okay, you're _scared."_

"I am not scared." She sounds cross.

"Yeah you are." I wriggle out of her grip, and take my hat off, and shake it 'cuz there's water all over it. "You're scared of…of…" I frown, because I'm trying to remember what that word was that David said. "Those things. The…_akuma_."

Liz squirms. "So what if I am? Didn't you see them? They're covered in _cannons _for god's sake!"

"But you're not scared of _kishin_," I tell her, which is true because she's the best in a battle, when I'm with her, and Kidd, we're unstoppable.

Liz takes a really deep breath. I move backwards and look at her. I get the feeling she wants to tell me something really important. She drops her eyes, like she doesn't want to look right at me. "Well…the truth is Patty…I am scared of _kishin_."

Wow.

I stare at her.

"Really?"

She swallows. "Yes."

"B…but…" I frown, because this doesn't make sense to me. "You're so brave when we battle!"

"Actually, I'm not," says Liz, hugging herself. "I'm not as great as you think I am, Patty."

"Yes you are," I tell her firmly. "Stop being silly."

"I'm nothing without you, or Kidd."

Ohh. I smile again. "I knew Kidd would come into this _somewhere_."

Her cheeks suddenly go really red, and I know _that _means she's embarrassed. I like making her embarrassed, it's really funny.

"W-what're you talking about, Patty?"

"All you've done since we got here is moan about how much you _miss_ him and stuff," I explain, and she goes even redder. I laugh. "You look like a tomato, sis!"

Liz slaps her hands to her cheeks. "First David, now you! I don't talk about him that much!"

"Why, what did David say?" I wipe some rainwater out of my eyes. This weather's starting to really annoy me.

"Just that I talk about Kidd a lot."

"Well, you do."

We both fall silent, listening to the rain. I've still got Jasdero's sling in my lap, it's damp and stained with black where he kept wiping his face on it. I start twisting it in my hands, running my fingers over the bumps in the material, 'cuz it was once a piece of curtain, and it's patterned with velvet flowery shapes. They've gone kind of icky and nasty in the rain though.

I hug my knees to my chest and press the material to my face. It smells damp and earthy, but it also kind of smells slightly of Jasdero. He's got a funny smell that I can't quite work out, like lots of different things mixed up to make one smell that's just Jasdero. Actually, it's a lot like David's smell. I notice these things. Liz smells of perfume and flowers mainly, because she thinks that smelling nice is important.

"Liz," I say after a while.

"Mmm?"

"I think we should go after them."

Liz groans and stretches her arms above her head. "Don't start that, Patty. We'd get lost. Let's just…stay here and wait for them to get back."

I clutch the material tighter with one hand and grab her arm with my other. "But Li-iz," I say, in the voice that always get me what I want off her. "I'm worried about them!"

She looks down at me in some surprise. "You like them a lot, don't you?"

I never thought about that before. "You're right sis." I move my feet slightly, and the ground squelches 'cuz it's so wet, with the same sound that the sponge makes when I throw it across the bathroom.

Liz frowns a bit and twiddles a bit of her hair in her fingers. "How come?"

"Why? Don't you?"

She shifts uncomfortably. "I dunno…they're - they're a bit weird, don't you think?"

I giggle at her. "No."

"They are a bit," she insists, and I can feel a tiny argument building up. I grin. Arguing with Liz is fun.

"They're nice." I frown. "Well, Jasdero is."

"He's…creepy."

I gently hit her, to let her know she's wrong. "Nuh uh, he's really cute."

She looks sideways at me, and smiles slightly. "You've got weird taste, Patty."

"Well _you've _got weirder taste, sis," I sniff. "_You_ like David, and he's really nasty to us."

Liz shoves me so hard, I nearly fall over. "I _do not._"

Hooray, we're arguing! "Yah you do. You make googly eyes at him," and I make my eyes go all wide with my fingers.

"Make your mind up Patty, I thought you said I fancied Kidd?"

I hesitate. She's got me there. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"There you are then."

I scowl and fold my arms real tight. It's annoying when she wins our arguments, especially because it happens so often.

We both sit side by side and watch the rain fall.

"I hope they're okay."

"Me too."

I glance sideways at her, but I don't think she's lying.

***

**David**

As we walk up behind the akuma, it jumps slightly and turns really fast, its arm clicking and whirring as its bony arm mutates into a weird spiked cannon. It sees us though, and lowers it very slowly. "Lord Jasdevi."

Jasdero looks up at me, and his eyes are really wide and round with worry. I look straight at the akuma and scowl at it. "What is it?"

But Jasdero can't stay quiet, even though I've told him to let me do the talking. He's just too over-excited. "Is everything okay, hee? Is the Earl okay? Is he? Is everything fine? Is it? IsitIsitIsitIsitIsit?"

I whack his head, and his eyes fill up with tears. _Ow, Debi!_

_Shh, Jas!_

The akuma takes a step towards us. Its oversized teeth clack slightly in its jaw as it tries to work out what to say. Water runs over its domed, horned head. "I bring news, Jasdevi."

I roll my eyes at it. "No freakin' _duh_. What is it?"

"The exorcists, Lord Jasdevi."

I stamp my foot, and water splashes all up my leg. "Goddammit, cut the Lord Jasdevi crap and get to the point."

When it speaks again, it sounds a little pissed off. Fuck that, I just want to get this over and done with. "The thing is, Lord - I mean…the thing is, Lord Tyki and Mistress Road arrived to aid the Creator.."

"Yeah, yeah, we _know_ all that shit, just get on with it!"

"And…and the exorcists have - completely depleted our ranks and - "

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." I hold up my hands. "Slow down there." This is getting confusing.

"What does _depleted _mean, hee?"

The akuma sighs slightly. "The exorcists kicked our asses, all right?"

_That_ we can understand. "What the hell, man?" I yell at it. "Just how many were there?"

"Well over fifty," admits the akuma.

Shit. I blow out a long breath. "Go on."

"Although Mistress Road has managed to kill one," says the akuma hopefully. Me and Jas stare at it, unimpressed. It shifts uncomfortably in the rain, clanking noisily. "And Lord Tyki - was injured trying to protect the Creator. We've retreated to tend to him."

"Is he hurt bad, hee?"

The akuma hesitates. "Fairly."

"What the fuck does that mean?" I snarl. Why can't these stupid machines make sense for once? "Is he gonna die?"

"No, no. But he's going to be out of action for a while."

"Do we come and help, hee?"

The akuma looks overhead, nervously. If a machine can look nervous. "I - don't know."

For _god's sake! _"You idiot!" I yell at it. It steps back. "You come here, telling us that you've fucking lost the battle - "

"Now wait, I didn't say that…" it stammers, but I cut across it. "And that Tyki's been hurt and you've effing _retreated_ and only _one_ exorcist is dead, and you can't even tell us what we've got to do, or what's happened to the bloody Innocence you were after in the first place!"

Jasdero's staring at me. I blink, breathing hard. Maybe Liz is right. Maybe I should do something about this losing-my-temper thing.

The akuma avoids my gaze. "Um…well…"

"What?"

"The exorcists - got the Innocence."

We both say nothing. The rain hisses onto the leaves.

"You're kidding."

It stares at the floor.

The rain falls.

I kick some mud at it, and draw my pistol. So does Jas. "Say it!" I shout. "Say it! Say it's a lie!"

"I can't. It's true."

"David!" Jasdero suddenly lowers his gun and is staring skywards, rain falling onto his grey upturned face and soaking into his already sodden hair.

"What?"

Both me and the akuma pause and turn too. There's another distant grey figure in the sky, rapidly drawing nearer. I squint. "It's another level 3."

Me and Jas automatically look at the akuma standing in front of us. It shrugs. "I don't know."

The figure in the sky gets bigger, and bigger, and suddenly I jump back, 'cuz it's not just an akuma, there's Lulubelle sitting on its shoulders, completely wet through and wearing a plain black suit.

She jumps off and lands with a squelching sound in the mud, and suddenly I see that she's gripping her shoulder and there's blood covering one side of her face.

Jasdero squeaks.

"Jasdevi!" she shouts through the rain, running towards us. "Where's the Earl?""What?" I say back, completely confused now. "I thought you were with him!"

"Me?" she looks horrified. "No, no! I was, but…we split up! I…I lost him!"

"You're hurt, Lulubelle!" cries Jasdero, waving his arms everywhere. He's just as confused as I am. No, wait, more confused. Jas is always more confused than me.

"I know," she gasps. "We were followed. By exorcists."

Bloody hell! Is this turning into a war? "Are they still after you?"

She bites her lip. "They might be."

Behind us the akuma stand silently, awaiting orders.

Lulubelle sinks to her knees in the rain, and wipes her face clean. "We've got to get after the Earl."

"But he's retreated with Tyki and Road," I tell her. "What if he tries and gets home?" Fuck, I don't know what to do any more.

"Forget that, let's go!" Lulubelle's getting shouty.

"I - "

I never finish my sentence.

The akuma both look skywards, one screams, they jump sideways, and suddenly we're in the middle of the mother of all explosions.

The world's exploding a lot today.

I can't see anything.

***

**Jasdero**

When I open my eyes, I'm lying flat on my back and there's water falling into my face. Slowly I push myself upwards, and blink a few times. Someone's crushing my legs. I shove them off, and realise it's Lulubelle. She groans, and sits up. I move back real fast, because I realise that her arm - her arm is gone. The bomb or explosion or whatever that was has blown it completely to nothing. There's just…just a bloody mess, and a long sharp white piece of bone. The flesh and material of her clothes is all scorched.

Next to me, David sits hunched over, screaming.

"Debi!"

"I can't see!"

I try and move over to him, but for some reason I can't….I look down, and I can feel my breakfast rising in my throat at what I see. My legs are all…smashed. And burnt. Like Lulubelle's arm. I open my mouth and scream.

"Jasdero!" David raises his head and looks wildly around for me. "Jasdero, what's wrong?"

But I fall back from him, because he's not David any more, he's something out of one of my nightmares, because - because…

His face has been blown off, and there's blood _everywhere_ and…and…

I double over and throw up right on the floor.

Lulubelle sits half bent, breathing really hard.

The akuma are both kneeling where they last stood, trembling and creaking like broken toys. One falls sideways, all scorched.

I can feel tears on my cheeks - or is it rain? - and I don't know what to do, 'cuz I can't even stand up, and David's….David's…

One of the akuma starts laughing, really creakily. "What a p-pathetic attempt." It slowly moves towards the other, and helps it up. "Not even Innocence. Just an ordinary bomb."

Lulubelle's nodding. "I knew it." She slowly shuffles over to me, one hand on her shoulder where there's bone and blood and -

I close my eyes and look away.

"It's okay, Jasdero," and her voice is soft and gentle, and that reminds me of Liz, so I open my eyes again.

She smiles weakly, and I watch as the bone shines in the rain and then - it gradually rebuilds itself. Muscle and flesh are suddenly twirling around her new arm, and then it's as good as new.

Carefully she flexes her fingers. "I do like being a Noah."

I look down at my legs. They're smashed up much worse than her arm was. After a moment, one of them slowly straightens itself back out as the bone clicks back to where it used to be, and then the burnt skin's healing over again and look, there's my leg again, just like it should be. Only bloodstained.

Another minute, and the other's back to normal too. I shudder with relief.

_Jasdero, help me!_

David never pleads like that.

I get to my knees and shuffle over to him through the rain. He's hiding his face again, and there's blood dripping through his fingers, into the mud and rain at his feet. I suddenly notice that his shoulders and neck are all burnt and gashed too - there's bone showing through his left shoulder. He must have been closest to the blast, and gotten a faceful of it.

I look at Lulubelle, and she smiles nervously at me. "He'll heal in a minute."

I swallow.

And wait.

David rocks.

The akuma look all around, and the first one arms its cannon. "Lady Lulubelle…Lord Jasdevi…"

"What?" snaps Lulubelle, not looking away from me or David.

"The bomb…it came from that direction."

"It's the exorcists," says the other, urgently. "They're _coming_."

"Go and deal with them!" she shouts. "We've got to wait for David!"

"But…"

"There's so many of them…"

"Only two of us…"

"David?"

I look up quickly.

Liz is striding towards me through the rain, big silver pistol shining in the rain.

Lulubelle starts to stand up, but I stop her. "No, hee! She's - a _friend_!"

"What?" snaps Lulu. "But…she's a human!"

"Leave her alone!" I shout, trying to keep Lulubelle down. "I promise she's a friend!"

"Jasdero, what happened?" asks Liz. "There was an explosion…" She notices David. "What's wrong with him?"

David lifts his face and looks wildly around. "Jasdero? What's happening? Is that you Liz?"

He faces her.

She steps backwards, and screams. "What…Oh god, David!"

"_Lady Lulubelle!"_

"Shut up!" bellows Lulubelle at the akuma. "Go after the exorcists! Stall them!"

The akuma glance at each other. Then they both disappear.

I wonder how long 'til the exorcists get here.

I wonder how long 'til David gets better.

Because he _will._

***

**Liz**

I stagger back and before I can help myself I throw up on the floor. The sick splatters the muddy ground, mixing with the rain and dirt. I can't help it.

David's got blood streaming down his front like a river. He makes a funny choking noise. "Oh Jasdero…I can't…I can't see…"

Jasdero looks scared. He stares at the woman kneeling next to him. She looks familiar…I realise that she's the one from the photos. So she's family, of sorts.

Her left arm is bare in the rain, the entire side of her jacket burnt and destroyed, but strangely her arm appears untouched, fresh even, compared to the rest of her.

But none of that matters, because David…doesn't have a proper _face_ any more.

What do I _do?_

In my hands, I feel Patty tremble. "Liz…Liz…I - " She's never seen anything so horrific. Neither have I.

In the distance, there's a sudden explosion. Again.

The woman looks up briefly. "They've met the exorcists."

I tremble, and look at Jasdero, who's gazing at his brother's bowed back, vomit, blood and mud all down his front. There are tears pouring from his eyes, although that could be the rain.

David said that _they _were the 'bad guys' but if the exorcists could do…do _this _to him, then I wonder who's really the villain here.

I take a shaky step towards him, and then carefully kneel in front of him, forcing myself to look at him. He removes his hands from his face. My stomach quails at the amount of blood there is.

The disfigured mess moves and from somewhere amongst that wreck of burnt skin, mangled muscle and smashed bone a strangled voice emerges. "L-Liz?"

"It's me, David."

"And me," says Patty.

"Why can't I see?"

"You're…you're hurt."

Jasdero puts his arm in mine and buries his face in my shoulder. Although he is very dirty, and wiping his teary, snotty face all over me, I let him.

"I can't feel anything…" groans David.

The woman stands up. "I can hear the exorcists."

"Get better, David!" howls Jasdero.

I know the Noah can heal, but to what extent? Is…David ever going to be normal again?

Patty gives a little hiccup of surprise. "Liz!"

I look up. So does Jasdero.

Behind the falling rain, David's bloody, ruined face shimmers slightly, like the heat haze on a road in summer, and then I see the broken bone of his jaw shifting like a jigsaw, reconstructing itself.

Oh my god.

I stare, transfixed, as the muscles stretch and contract, pulling themselves tight around his skull once more, and then the skin starts slowly creeping back into place. As it slithers over his head, we all watch as David's familiar features slowly start to take shape once more, from his pointed nose to his sharp jaw and wide mouth.

And then just like that, we're looking into David's face, and he slowly opens his eyes and they're just as gold as they've always been. He blinks a couple of times and wrinkles his nose.

Jasdero leans forward slightly. David lowers his hands further and gazes blearily at his brother. "J-Jas?"

"Here, Debi."

David extends a shaky hand and runs his fingers over Jasdero's face, touching the stitches of his top lip and feeling the curve of his nose. Jasdero smiles under his brother's touch. "Okay, Debi?"

"I…I can see again.""

"No _duh_, bitch," says Patty in what is unmistakeably a mockery of David's voice. He rubs his eye and stares at me through the rain, his long fringe clinging to his already damp face. "Hello, Liz."

"Hello, David."

Suddenly I realise the woman is staring at me hard. Jasdero shifts apprehensively, and waves a hand frantically to get her attention. "Lulu! Lulu!"

"What, Jasdero?" she says, not taking her eyes off me.

"This is Liz, hee. And Patty. Don't…I mean…leave them alone, okay?"

"But _who_ are they?" she demands, standing up and towering over us, glowering suspiciously.

"They're friends of ours," says David hoarsely, pulling his coat back over his newly healed shoulders.

"Well…" 'Lulu' appears to about to say something more, but an explosion in the distance cuts her off. She grits her teeth and shakes her head impatiently. "All right, fine. I'll leave them alone."

"Promise, hee?"

"Yes, _yes,_" she says in a biting voice, glancing over her shoulder in agitation. "Come on Jasdevi, we better go after the akuma."

David gets to his feet, wobbling very slightly. Jasdero holds a hand out to me, and after a moment's hesitation, I take it and he pulls me to my feet.

I hear another explosion. "These…exorcists. They just don't quit, do they?"

"Nope," mutters David, stooping and snatching his gun off the floor. Through the rain, we all see a column of black smoke twisting upwards from the trees, and there's a distant scream. It's a horrible scream, that sets my teeth on edge.

The woman called Lulu starts running. "That was one of the akuma!"

Jasdero and David follow, David still stumbling slightly. He slips on a patch of mud as he runs, and I catch him just before he falls. "Okay?" He stares at me upside-down, and I set him back on his feet. "We've got your back, David."

He brushes himself off and nods. "I know."

"We've got yours too, hee!" laughs Jasdero over his shoulder as he runs. The woman shoves him. "This is not a game! There's veritable _army_ after us, ten exorcists and at least thirty finders strong!"

"Fucking _hell_," moans David.

Patty jiggles in my hands. "Liz, what's a finder?"

"I don't know, Patty."

Lulu throws an arm out suddenly, and Jasdero and David smack into it. They both double over together, and David glares up at her. "Fuck's sake woman, what - "

He falls silent. We all do. Ahead of us the broken figure of an akuma lies in the path, steaming slightly as the rain evaporates off its scorched and battered armour.

It raises its head as we creep closer and grins wonkily through a broken jaw. "N-Noah…It has been…an honour."

With a flash of light, it disappears before my eyes. In the last few seconds of its existence, I swear I see the faint form of a ghostly human disappearing skywards. I blink, and rub my eyes.

"You're not crazy, sis," says Patty in a strangely hushed voice. "I saw it too."

"What _was_ that?"

"A soul," says David darkly. "A human soul. It was sealed inside of the akuma."

"Wait," I say, holding a hand up. "There _are_ souls in this universe?"

"You have them too, hee?" squeals Jasdero excitedly.

"But _you_ don't!" cries Patty in confusion, and the three Noah stare at me, before their gaze slowly shifts to the gun in my hands. Jasdero and David _still_ haven't gotten used to our power.

"That's right," I say. "Patty said you don't have souls."

"We're _Noah_," growls David. "How many times am I gonna have to repeat myself to you?"

"We don't have time for this," snaps the woman.

"Sorry Lulubelle, hee."

That must be her real name. Lulubelle flicks her arm, and right before my eyes, it elongates and snaps into a weird whip-like thing.

I shrug. To be honest, this is starting to get so crazy, I really just go with it. I raise Patty, and pull the safety off.

David and Jasdero glance at each other. Overhead, the rain is gradually ceasing, but the air's still damp. Through the trees, I suddenly realise I can hear some very distinct bangs and shouts. Sounds like that last akuma is giving the exorcists a run for their money.

And then, just like that, it bursts through the foliage, and hurls itself past me, past Jasdero and David, past Lulubelle, and explodes out of existence like its sibling.

Lulubelle clenches a fist.

I step backwards.

Someone walks through the trees towards us.

Another someone appears behind them.

And another.

And another.

They're all wearing black. A beautifully silvered and patterned cross gleams on their chest.

The first one is brandishing an axe. "Greetings, Noah."

"Lovely to meet you," says Lulubelle coldly, and snaps her whip. "Let's skip the formalities, shall we?"

The man hefts his weapon higher and adopts an aggressive stance. "If you want."

"Get back, Liz," David commands. He and Jasdero flick their guns upwards and aim them at the newly arrived trio of exorcists. "_Blue bomb!"_

"Argh!" The axe-man dives sideways as his two companions disappear in an eruption of blue shards and frost. "You bastards!"

He charges at Jasdero, but Lulubelle gets to the exorcist first, moving faster than I would have thought possible. She flicks her arm-whip and it snaps the man across the face, sending a spray of blood through the air.

He slaps a hand to his face.

Lulubelle laughs triumphantly, but her grin is quickly wiped off her face as a fresh gang of exorcists emerge from the trees.

I sink to my knees and gape. There's so many of them! But not all are wearing black; some are wearing white, and many have their hoods up.

One of the black-clad figures steps forward. "You're going to wish you hadn't done that."


	11. Chapter 11 The Beginning of the End

**Jasdero**

We all back away even more. Normally I wouldn't be scared of exorcists, but I never seen so many in one place at once.

There's even more finders. Some are…some have _guns_.

_Big _guns.

I swallow, and move closer to David. He bites his lip.

Lulubelle cracks her whip. "Bring it on!"

And the exorcists throw themselves forward.

The force of their Innocence meeting Lulu's dark matter is so strong, it throws me and David to the ground.

David immediately leaps to his feet, and pulls me up too. We jump backwards as an exorcist swings his weapon at us, and raise our guns.

"Load!"

"Red bomb!" The fireball whooshes out, heading straight for the exorcist that's got Lulu pinned to the ground.

Just in time Lulubelle sees it, and disappears in a blur of feathers.

"Wha - " The exorcist she was grappling with staggers backwards, staring up at the pigeon that's suddenly soaring high above his head. Then he's gone, in a blaze of fire.

I get a jolt of pure joy from David, and it makes me laugh. He likes fire a lot. I do too.

But there's no time to enjoy it, because there are still more exorcists to deal with.

One leaps high above our heads, and he's got a sword and long dark hair. He raises the sword high, high over his head, and I start laughing, 'cuz I think this is it, it's the end, me and David are about to get spliced in two -

There's a shot, and the exorcist is thrown backwards. He hit's a tree and slides to the ground, breathing heavily. I laugh at him, but it's not because he's funny, I'm just frightened, and I laugh when I'm frightened, but I don't know why.

_Focus, Jas_!

We turn around, and Liz is standing there with a smoking pistol raised. She grins at us.

The exorcist runs a hand over his chest, looking confused. "What…just happened?"

"Watch out, Kanda!" screams a finder, and he ducks just as Lulubelle smashes a rock hard fist in to the wood above his head, showering him with splinters.

He rolls sideways, drawing his sword again.

I laugh as he glares at Lulubelle, and shake David's arm. "Look Debi! Him and Lulu have the same hairstyle!"

"Duck, Jasdero!" yells Liz, and I do, and the finder that was about to put a gun to my head is blasted backwards. He collapses unconscious on the ground, smoking.

"Yah ha! Take that!" cheers Patty.

"Take _this!_" roars the first exorcist, the one with the axe, and he swings it towards Liz, and me and David are about to green-bomb him good, but there's no need, 'cuz Liz suddenly disappears, and the exorcist's Innocence axe is so heavy he overbalances.

Patty appears, and catches the gun that's now Liz. She puts it to the exorcist's head and grins. "Let's go fatal, sis."

"He's a _human_!" I hear Liz shout.

"He's helping hurt Jasdero and David! Do it!" And Patty pulls the trigger. The exorcist jerks, there's a spray of blood from the other side of his head and his eyes roll upwards as he pitches sideways, dead as a doornail.

David gapes. I gape.

"You said you didn't kill!" he says. "You said that as guns, you could only wound!"

"Yeah?" giggles Patty, blowing smoke off Liz's barrel. "Well big sis lied to you."

David swears very loudly in his head, and it's a pretty bad word, which might be why he didn't say it out loud in case Liz gets pissy with him again, but there's no time to worry about this, 'cuz Lulu is in trouble.

She's taken on the form of a big black tiger, and is surrounded by exorcists and finders. As she spins in the middle of them, her tail catches three finders and knocks them off their feet.

One of the exorcists raises her Innocence, a long shiny spear-thing, but before she can do anything, Lulu twists upwards and shifts into a massive mass of water, covering everyone and everything.

Patty gasps, and claps her hands. "Wooooow! She's so cool!"

"What on earth _is_ she?" cries Liz.

"That's Lulubelle," shouts David over an explosion, ducking as a finder charges towards us and kicking him in the stomach. Patty shoots him in the head as he lies groaning on the floor. "She represents Noah's Form. She can shape shift."

"Wait, there are different Noah types?" asks Liz, as Patty fires shot after shot overhead at the seemingly neverending stream of finders. I hate to say it, but Patty's not actually a very good shot - she just shoots everywhere.

"Yup," says David, and we both duck, sending a blue bomb skywards to freeze two exorcists at once. One dodges, but is knocked sideways by a shot from Patty.

"So what are _you_ two?"

"Bondomu, hee!"

"What?

"Bond."

"David, behind you!" But he doesn't move quick enough, and a finder smashes the butt of his machine-gun into David's face. He pins him down under one foot, and aims down at the back of David's head.

Without thinking, I put my head down and charge right into the jerk, head butting him right where it hurts most.

"Thanks Jas."

"No problem, Debi."

Lulubelle flies across the clearing, and gets shakily to her feet. "Jasdevi, this is getting serious! _Where is the Earl?"_

"He could be on his way!" shouts back David, but it's hard for him to make himself heard over the noise of the battle.

"Could isn't good enough!"

"Could, would, should!" I laugh, 'cuz it's reminding me of Patty's idea from earlier.

She laughs too.

Suddenly the exorcists fall strangely silent. The dark haired samurai from earlier pauses, sword raised and breathing hard. Lulubelle's given him a slash across the face.

The finders start scrabbling backwards, like rats. One stays put, and he's got a black machine in his hands. It looks like a box, only covered with wires, and with some sort of complicated switch-y thing on the stop.

Lulubelle takes a step back from him, holding her hands up. "Oh come _on_, you're not really going to, are you?"

He looks terrified. But he doesn't move.

"Don't be stupid, Kristof!" screams one of the exorcists. "You know it won't affect the Noah, and you'll kill us all!"

I look wildly from the finder called Kristof, to Lulubelle, to David, to Patty. "What's going on?"

David starts to laugh. Which is strange. Usually _I'm _the one laughing when nothing makes sense.

Patty raises Liz again. "What's he holding?"

David laughs harder. "That's a _bomb_, Patty."

"A bomb?"

"A bomb, hee?"

"A bomb," says Lulubelle. "Just like the one earlier."

I have a sudden vision of my broken legs, of blood, of David's ruined face and burnt flesh and - I push the memory away.

Kristof raises it higher, arms trembling. He's got tears running down his face. "If you…you don't surrender, Noah, I - I'll set it off! I will, really!"

"For god's sake!" shouts an exorcist, moving closer. He's afraid to make any sudden movements though, in case Kristof sets it off. "Think, Kristof, you idiot! We blew the Noah up not ten minutes ago, and look at them! Completely unharmed!"

"Exactly!" pipes up another. "What's more, _we'd_ all be blown to smithereens, since we're only human!"

A thought strikes me.

I look sideways at Patty, who's staring straight ahead at Kristof.

_They're_ only human.

David stops laughing. He stares at me.

Lulubelle snorts. "Go _on_, Kristof. Detonate the thing! Kill all your friends and save us the trouble!"

"No!" I scream. I - I don't want Patty or Liz to die!

The exorcists, Lulubelle and the finder all stare at me. David raises his pistol and aims it at Kristof. But he doesn't dare shoot. Neither do I. In case the bomb goes off.

Kristof takes a deep shuddering breath. "Actually, this bomb - it…it's constructed with Innocence."

The exorcists stare at him.

Lulubelle takes another step backwards. "It can't be."

Kristof's voice wavers and goes higher, like Liz when she's scared. "It's true, it's true! It's only experimental, but…if I detonate it, you Noah…well…you won't stay unharmed, that's for sure."

"We can't die," yells Lulubelle at him, and she's shaking slightly now. "Put that thing down, or I'll - "

But the exorcists are all suddenly on their feet and running, running faster than I'd ever have thought possible. Kristof hasn't moved, and he starts flicking switches and buttons all over the bomb. "I'll do it! I really will!"

David makes a funny choking sound. "He's going to kill himself to get _us!_"

"Run, Jasdevi!" screams Lulubelle, and we all turn to start running, but suddenly something grabs my feet and I'm pulled to the ground and I get a faceful of mud.

"Argh!" David slams into the dirt next to me. I look up, and there's a shining rope of Innocence clinging to our feet.

It extends far back to Kristof's side, and there's a tall, dark-skinned woman standing there, the end of the rope clutched in her fist. Two more are stretched far across the clearing, one pressing Lulu into the ground and one wrapped around Patty's legs, holding them together.

"We'll die together, Kristof," says the woman. "Do it!"

"No!" Lulubelle struggles harder.

David kicks his legs. "Fucking Innocence!"

Patty wriggles hard. I open my mouth to tell her it's useless, but then -

She gives one final kick, and the rope falls away from her legs.

That's right.

She's not a Noah.

The same thought strikes David and he stops struggling. "Yeah, Patty! Go!"

Kristof's fingers start moving faster as he works to arm the bomb.

Patty clenches her fist around Liz and starts running.

Towards him.

***

**Liz**

Normally this kind of thing would bother me, running straight towards a guy who's about to set a damned bomb off, but this time I have no choice. Partly because it's Patty doing to the running, and partly because I'd never be able to live with myself if we didn't do this.

I don't know what rules govern this universe, I don't know why the Noah are so powerful in some ways but so weak in others, but I do know that the bomb can't go off.

Not only would me and Patty probably be killed, but I know that David, and Jasdero, and Lulubelle wouldn't make it either. Whatever this Innocence is, the Noah are clearly vulnerable to it.

Kristof looks up quickly, and an expression of pure fear crosses his face as Patty raises me and tries to take aim as she charges towards him.

At the very last second, the woman dives in front of him and moves her arm sideways in a long sweeping motion. The three ropes, all connected by a single steel handle clutched in her fist, snake through the air and whip Patty in the stomach as one, winding her and sending her flying backwards.

But to attack us, the woman had to release the Noah.

But it's too late.

"Ready!" cries Kristof, and he raises a hand above the bomb, above the red button.

In spite of myself, I mentally roll my eyes. The big red button. How original.

"No!" Lulubelle panics, and disappears skyward in the form of some kind of bird.

"Jasdero!"

"David!"

The brothers turn and start running.

"Patty!" I scream at her. "Run! For god's sake, run! We're going to die!"

In my heart of hearts, I know that there's no way we'll get even twenty feet before the bomb goes off.

Patty throws me down and leaps forward at Kristof.

I shift. "_Patty!_ Don't!"

"Patty?" Jasdero skids to a halt and spins around. "Patty!" And to my amazement, he starts running _back_, towards the two of us.

Patty's reached Kristof, and she's wrestling furiously with him, despite the fact that he's so much taller than her.

"Stop, Jasdero!" David's running back too, but he can't catch up with his brother. "We've got to get out of here!"

The woman raises her hand high above Patty's head, but I throw myself at her, slamming both fists into her sides as hard as I can. She flies sideways, but recovers quickly, and snaps her ropes across my face.

I don't care.

"Stop him Patty!"

"I'm trying!"

"Get off me!"

"_Patty!"_

***

**Jasdero**

Patty's forcing Kristof's arm upwards, and hers is trembling with the effort. I reach them, and smash my fist into his face as hard as I can.

Blood explodes from his nose - like a flower, how pretty - but he doesn't stop struggling against Patty.

He drives his foot into her leg and she staggers, and his arm slips free from her grasp, and his hand comes down towards the button -

***

**David**

- but Jasdero's there, and he wraps both hands around Kristof's wrist, his pistol falling to the floor, and Kristof yells, blood pouring down his face.

Liz screams as the woman pulls the ropes tight around her neck, hoisting her off the ground.

I skid to a halt, staring madly from where Kristof is trying to hold Patty and Jasdero off with one arm, to where Liz is kicking her legs and slowly turning purple, and I -

***

**Liz**

- and everything's okay again, I can breathe, as the woman is knocked off her feet by the force of David's foot. The ropes fly off my neck, and I take deep gasping breaths to fill my lungs once more.

But there's no time to relax, because that bomb - that bomb -

***

**Patty**

- suddenly I'm staring at the sky because Kristof has knocked me straight to the floor. I get up as quickly as I can but he's slowly forcing Jasdero off him, and I scream because -

***

**Jasdero**

- I stagger backwards, and it's too late, too late, Kristof raises his hand high and brings it down -

***

**David**

I'm pulling Liz to her feet, but then her hand disappears from mine, and a gun is spinning through the air and Patty catches it and -

***

**Liz**

- Patty catches me and, moving quicker than I've ever seen her move, spins and fires a shot, just one, straight at Kristof as he pushes the button with the palm of his hand -

***

**Patty**

- and the box clicks and three massive shafts of light burst free as it starts to go off -

***

**Jasdero**

- I charge forwards, and I hear myself scream Patty's name, and I hear David scream mine and as the explosion goes off I reach out to Patty -

***

**David**

- I see blonde hair, long hair, short hair, as Jasdero reaches Patty just as the gunshot reaches Kristof who keels sideways, blood pouring down his head as the world disappears in a roar of white and sound and heat and -

***

**Liz**

I feel myself spin out of Patty's hands.

***

**Patty**

Jasdero's arms are flung around me as he tries to pull me to safety but then the world explodes and he's gone -

***

**Jasdero**

- and there's whiteness -

***

**David**

- and pain -

***

**Liz**

- and as I hit the floor, just like that -

***

**Patty **

- the white becomes black and every sound just disappears as I -

***

**Liz**

- pass out.


	12. Epilogue 01: Who's David

**Liz**

You know that feeling you get when you've had a really bad night's sleep, and when it's morning you're so tired still that you don't even know if you're awake or not? It really sucks.

The first thing I become aware of is light. _Bright_ light. It's so bright that I have to close my eyes again, which takes some effort. As I lift my arm to rub one eye, I realise that there's something soft and heavy impeding my movement. I frown, which hurts, and run my hand slowly along it. It feels strangely familiar…(why is it so hard to think straight?). I open my eyes as I realise that it's a bed sheet. I run my eyes over the scene in front of me, taking in white, white, white. The bed sheets are white. There's a ceiling above me that's white. Blinking my eyes, I clear my vision slightly and I see that it's actually slightly yellowish, not white at all.

Very slowly I turn my head to my left. For some reason it's really hard to move, and actually quite painful. The yellow-white world rotates, and a weird assortment of blurred shapes swims into view. I blink a few times, but it does nothing to help me see. Squinting, I can make out the pale blue of a jug of water, and what looks like a bunch of flowers, although it could easily be a patterned cushion.

I suddenly realise David is sitting several feet away, recognisable only by a dark smear of hair that drifts in and out of focus as my befuddled mind attempts to make sense of my surroundings. He's wearing a dark blue top - or there's a smudge of blue floating somewhere under the black, anyway. It moves slightly up and down as he breathes while he sleeps, sitting hunched in what could be a chair.

At this I become aware of how quiet it is in here. At first I had though there was something wrong with my ears too, but it's actually just deathly still silence I'm hearing. Somewhere above my head a clock ticks peacefully, counting the seconds away. There's David's steady breathing to my left, and someone else's to my right. I try and turn my head to see who it is, but the effort is so great that I give up and just lie there, staring vacantly at the blue water jug.

It makes me feel thirsty. My tongue feels swollen and heavy, and my insides feel strangely dried up and empty. After a few pointless seconds of trying to lift an arm towards the bedside table, I concede defeat and flop back down uselessly. I mouth soundlessly for a second, my tongue flopping from side to side, and then finally struggle out a weak, "hello?"

There's no response. I try again, louder. "D-da…" It's no use, my mouth simply can't form his name.

"He…hel…" I screw my face up, because a splitting headache is starting to arrive on the scene. "P-patty? Hello?"

David's black head suddenly twitches and jerks up. Although I still can't see him clearly, I can just make him out, staring wildly around the room, and then sinking back into his chair with a sigh.

He turns and looks at me, but I can't see his face. I frown, because there's something different here, but I can't work it out.

He leaps to his feet and rushes over. "Liz! You're awake!"

"Water…"

"Oh, right…" The blue-and-black blur moves, and lifts up the lighter blue blur that's the water jug. I hear a clink and a sloshing sound, and then a glass is pushed into view.

It takes a me second to focus on it, but when I do, it's clearer than anything I've seen since I woke up. I hope that means my vision's returning. As I struggle pointlessly to sit up, I stare at the shining glass of water, and the hand holding it.

It has long, elegant fingers and smooth white skin.

Again I get that nagging feeling, that something's wrong here.

"Can you sit up?"

"No…" There's a hand at my neck, gently easing me into a sitting position and resting my head against a wonderfully soft pillow. Again the glass is raised to my face. The hand that's holding it is pale. There's a dark silver ring encircling one of the fingers.

I reach a trembling hand out to the water, but I'm simply too weak to take it. Instead I lie back and wait for my vision to return.

It does, slowly. The hand becomes a hand and an arm, clad in some sort of finely-woven navy sweater. The black blur of hair becomes a distinct hairstyle, far neater than I remember.

And then the face wavers and focuses into a pale, worried expression, and three white stripes stand out against the black.

"K-Kidd?"

"It's me, Liz. How are you feeling?"

"I…like shit," I croak. He puts a cold hand on my forehead. "You're in the hospital, Liz."

"What?" I sit up straighter. "Where…where am I?"

He looks confused. "In Shibusen."

My heart jumps in my chest. "R-really?" I can feel my arms trembling, but this time it's from pure shock. "Shibusen?"

"Yes, Liz."

I lean forwards and after a moment's effort, fling my arms around Kidd's neck. "Oh my god."

He pats my back, awkwardly. "Are you okay?"

I sit back again, carefully. My mind is gradually returning. I raise a hand, and feel a thick soft bandage wrapped around my head. "What's this?"

"You've been hurt quite badly, Liz," Kidd tells me, putting the glass down and dragging his chair closer to my bed. "Actually, you were in a coma for five days."

"A _coma?_" Something stops slightly inside me. "Wait…what about Patty?" My heart rate shoots up. _"Where is she?"_

He presses a finger to his lips and points over. "She's asleep in that bed there. Let her rest." I look over my shoulder, and can just see her blonde tufty hair poking out over the white sheets.

I turn back to Kidd. "I was really in a coma?"

"Yes," he says in a low voice. "Liz…what happened to you?"

"What do you mean?"

He takes a deep breath. "After…I mean…you remember that witch?"

I shake my head.

"When I lost you."

Oh. I think I know what he's talking about. "The really powerful one?"

"Yes. Well…you disappeared, Liz. You and Patty." His voice trembles slightly, and he takes my hand. "I thought you'd died."

I sit there and watch him.

"But I went home and Father and I checked his records and he even scanned for your souls, and we didn't find anything, so obviously you couldn't have been dead." Kidd blinks rapidly. "We all searched for you. _Everywhere_. Liz…I…I'd began to lose hope."

"But Kidd…" My voice is still hoarse and sore. "Me and Patty…we weren't….I swear we weren't away for that long…"

He gives me a funny look. "Liz…you've been missing for a week and a half."

"_What?"_ I blow out a long breath. "Whoa."

"Where _were _you?" he asks, sitting back in his chair. "I was so worried! And then Kilik was sent out to investigate an explosion in the desert, and he…he found you and Patty, unconscious and badly injured."

I realise my arm's connected to a drip. There's a whole tray of fresh liquid packs and medicines set next to my bed.

"_Really_ badly injured," says Kidd, as though this wasn't obvious. "Liz…they…don't panic, but they…they had to operate on Patty. She's okay, she's fine!" he adds hastily, pushing me down as I try to get up, wincing with pain. "Honestly, she just needs sleep."

I close my eyes briefly, but I can't _not_ look at Kidd, so I open them and just lie there, drinking in every aspect of his features that I've been missing so much.

He gazes back and we both stay silent for a long time.

"It's good to have you back," he sighs.

"It's good to _be_ back," I tell him.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?"

"Later." I'm too exhausted right now.

"Who's David?"

I open my eyes again and stare at him. "What did you say?"

"You were talking in your sleep earlier. You kept mentioning him."

I frown. "I thought - you said I was in a coma."

Kidd nods. "You came out of the coma yesterday, but you just slept the whole time. And you were calling for Patty constantly. You sounded pretty panicked."

I close my eyes, trying to hold the tears back. What _did_ happen to Jasdero and David? Or were they not actually real? Was that whole thing some sort of mad dream? No…why else would I be so badly injured?

"Liz?" Kidd brushes my hair off my face. "This…David. Who is he? Does he need help?"

I sigh as I try and work out what to say. "David's…" There don't seem to be any words to fill that gap. I stare at the dark under my eyelids, remembering his too-big coat, and untidy coarse hair, and his sharp golden eyes, and if I try hard enough I can almost hear his snappish, biting tone of voice. "…Can I tell you later, Kidd?"

He looks closely at me, and nods slowly. "You've got to rest."

I lie down and draw the sheets tightly around myself. Kidd stays where he is.

"Are you going to watch me sleep?"

"I don't want you to disappear again…"

I'm too tired. So I yawn, roll carefully sideways and close my eyes. Sleep comes quickly, which is a blessing.

***

**One week later**

I sit on the wall, my hair blowing in the wind. The summer sun is hot on my face, and lights up the entire of the Death City as it sits sprawled below me like a map. Next to me, Patty slurps contentedly at a popsicle, hair neatly brushed and her neckerchief stirring slightly in the wind.

On my other side, Kidd leans his arms on the brickwork and stares out at the blue sky. I've just finished telling him everything. For a long time he's silent, and then he speaks. "I've heard of parallel universes existing before, but I didn't know it was possible to travel between them."

"I think it was a fluke," I say. "Something about that witch's strength must have just been enough to shove us over."

He nods. "And you say the last thing you remember in _that _universe was that bomb going off."

"And it wasn't just any bomb," I agree. "It was…Innocence or something."

There's a long, contented silence which Patty fills by humming quietly to herself.

"Did they really have stigmata on their foreheads?" asks Kidd.

"Yeah," I say. "All across like this." I drag my finger across my brow. "And their skin was grey."

"How strange," he muses, resting his chin on his steepled fingers. "What were they like?"

"They…" I hesitate, because how can anyone describe Jasdero and David in just a few words? "They were…"

"Like this!" Patty slips off the wall, her popsicle stick protruding from between her lips and extracting a crumpled sheet of paper from her shorts pocket. She thrusts the sticky sheet at Kidd, who smoothes it out curiously.

"That's David." Patty points at her crude portrait of him. "He was dark-haired and shouty, and he swore all the time."

I laugh lightly as I remember. "Yeah, that's right. He lost his temper a lot, and he liked to break things, and he was really immature, but he was all right in the end."

Kidd frowns at the picture. "Why has he got a black stripe across only one eye?"

"Oh, _that_," I giggle. "Yeah, you'd really hate him, Kidd. He was _totally_ asymmetric. He even wore trousers that only covered one leg."

"That's _disgusting_," Kidd gags. "Was his hair really like that?"

"Yup," says Patty. "But his brother was symmetrical, so it's okay."

"What?" Kidd moves onto the next illustration. "This is a guy?"

"Yeah, that's Jasdero," I say. "David's twin brother. He had long, blonde hair."

"Why has he got a zigzag for a mouth?"

"His lips were sewn together. Like this." I demonstrate with an up-down motion with one finger. Kidd frowns. "Really? That's…strange."

"That's exactly Jasdero. He was strange."

Patty pouts sulkily. "You're so rude to him, Liz!"

I roll my eyes. "Oh yeah, and Patty _loved _him."

"He was cuddly!"

"He was completely cracked," I tell Kidd, tapping my forehead. "They both were, but Jasdero was…properly insane. He was sweet though."

"I miss him," sighs Patty unhappily, touching her neckerchief. I don't know how she managed to save that fragment of the curtain, but she's now wearing Jasdero's old sling around her neck. I made her wash it twice first though.

"I do too," I say, surprising myself. "I miss them both. I wish you could have been there, Kidd."

Patty laughs at that. "Yeah, Liz was crying for you the _whooooole_ time, Kiddy!"

He looks at me. "Really?"

"Uh." I stare determinedly down at the city below us. "It doesn't matter, that's the past."

"I missed you guys so much," admits Kidd.

"Were we really gone for that long?"

Patty frowns. "We were only with Jasdero and David for a few days, weren't we sis?"

"I thought so."

"It was longer than that, trust me."

A thought strikes me. "Maybe…time passes differently in the two universes?"

"Probably," grunts Kidd. "Let's not get too bogged down in details. The important thing is, you're back." He hands Patty's drawings back to her, and leaps up to sit next to me on the wall, swinging his legs in midair and staring out at the city. Patty stays silent, gazing down at the sheet of paper. I glance sideways at her. I think I know what she's thinking.

I reach over and rub her shoulder reassuringly. "I'm sure they're okay, Patty."

She looks slowly up at me.

"You know what they're like. They're tough. They'll have survived, I'm sure of it."

"I know _that_," replies Patty, slightly impatiently. "I just miss 'em, that's all."

"Who knows? Maybe we'll see them again one day."

"I hope so," she says quietly, contemplating the little scribble of Jasdero. "I really hope so."

A ladybird lands on my knee, and I watch it crawl across the bare skin before spreading its tiny wings and disappearing into the breeze. I close my eyes, and Jasdero's bright, overly-cheerful face surfaces in my memory as he crouches next to Patty in the rain. _"The ladybug's on her way to save her children right now!" _

"Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home," murmurs Patty next to me, as though she'd read my thoughts.

I slip my hand into Kidd's, and he squeezes it. I remember all those times I had to help David to his feet, and how his hand had felt in mine, tough and skinny, with badly-chewed nails. Kidd's hand is soft, and cool, and his fingernails are so neat as to be manicured, because he needs everything to be perfect.

Something white whips past in the wind to join the clouds in the blue summer sky. Next to me, Patty's folded her drawings several times and is tearing the paper into tiny pieces, releasing them into the wind.

She smiles at me. "Goodbye, Jasdevi."

I lean against Kidd and smile back as the fragments of what was once our friends dance over Death City.

"Goodbye, Jasdevi."


	13. Epilogue 02: Song of the Crazy Girl

**David**

I wake up to someone dabbing my forehead gently. They've put too much water on the sponge, so some trickles down either side of my head, dribbling into my hair. I open my eyes, and find myself looking straight into the blank eyes of an akuma in its human disguise.

It blinks at me. "Master David."

"Get off me."

"I am merely - "

"_Get off me_."

It obediently lifts the sponge and moves back. I sit up, and stare around. The floor is tiled black and white, and the walls are panelled in pale wood. Light blue curtains hang in front of the windows, blocking out what little daylight is left.

To my right, Jasdero lies very still in his bed, white sheets drawn right up to his chin so that he looks like a mummy someone forgot to finish wrapping.

"Ugh…" I rub my eyes with one hand, and sit up a bit straighter. Someone's taken my clothes off and put me in a pair of light grey pyjamas.

The akuma watches me. I glare at it through my hair, which is even untidier than usual. "Oi, where are we?"

It bows. "Home, Master David."

"Our _new_ home, dearest Debitto," says a familiar voice from across the room. The Earl is standing there, fat and grinning like he always is, but I yelp at the sight of him and pull the covers over my head. "It wasn't my fault! Nothing's my fault! Tyki's lying! He lied to you!"

"Shhh," he soothes. "You aren't in trouble. Now you just sit there and get better for me, yes?"

I peep over the edge of the bed sheet. The Earl takes a seat with his back to me next to another bed. Someone with dark curly hair is lying in it, fast asleep.

The Earl reaches a hand out and plumps the pillow gently. "Poor, poor little Tyki-pon. He's been quite badly hurt, you know." He glances over his shoulder at me. "As have you, David."

I hesitate, and then slide out of bed. I grab the covers and wrap them around myself like a cloak, because it's cold. Quietly I pad over to the Earl. He doesn't move.

"Where's Lulu?"

"She left the infirmary two hours ago. She's better."

"Why…" I stop, and start again. "I remember a bomb."

"Well done, Debitto."

"But…it was made of Innocence. It…blew up, right in our faces."

There are tears streaming down the Earl's still-grinning face. "My poor children."

"H-how long have I - "

"Only one night," he says, answering my unfinished question. "I arrived yesterday and took you two and Lulubelle here with Tyki and Road."

"And Skin?"

"He's on his way now."

An akuma drifts over with a bowl of water and starts sponging Tyki's forehead, smoothing his hair away. He has a huge bandage over one eye, and I can see a horrible bruise spread over the other cheek. "What happened to him?"

"He got on the wrong side of one of the generals," says the Earl, but that's all he says, and I dance from one foot to other, 'cuz I want to ask some more, but what if I piss him off?

"Why - "

"Go back to bed, Debitto."

I stare at his back for a moment, and then I do as he says. That's always the best thing to do when the Earl's concerned. The akuma tries to follow me with its sponge, but I wave it away. "Leave me alone, dammit."

"I can see your manners haven't improved," says the Earl. "I thought those girls would have at least some positive influence on you."

I sit up. "You know about - "

"Don't insult my intelligence, please," he says cheerfully, but with a slight chill to his voice that sends a shiver down my back. I huddle against my pillow and draw the duvet up to my chin, just in case.

"What…what have you done with them?"

There's a long silence. It annoys me, but I know better than to bug the Earl. He sits for a long time without saying anything, and then he giggles softly to himself.

My heart goes slightly colder. What happened to Liz and Patty?

The Earl gets up and shuffles over to my bedside. His big grinning face scares me, and I'm still not _entirely _sure that I'm not in trouble ('cuz it seems like I'm always getting scolded for _something_) so I pull the covers up even further until just my eyes and the top of my head are showing, and I watch the Earl carefully.

He raises his hand above my head and I flinch and screw my eyes shut -

I open them again. The Earl's resting his hand on my forehead, and he strokes it gently, brushing the hair away from my eyes. I stare up at him, into the cold shiny circles that he looks out onto the world with.

"They've disappeared, David. No sign of them."

"Oh." Next to me, Jasdero mumbles slightly in his sleep and then turns over, sighing.

The Earl pats my hair. "You poor boy."

I swallow nervously. Carefully he pulls the duvet up, tucking me in. "Now get some sleep."

"But I want to know what - "

"Do as I say, Debitto."

The door shuts very firmly behind him.

***

**Two days later**

Jasdero sniffs hard and wipes his runny nose on his coat sleeve furiously. His hair dances madly in the wind, and the red pompom sitting on top of his woollen hat wobbles slightly.

"Cold, Debi."

"Yeah, Jas." I'm wearing my coat as usual, but the Earl made me wear two really thick sweaters and do the buttons up _and _he made me wear a scarf, which is covering my chin and my nose.

Jasdero refused to wear his scarf, so _his_ nose is slowly turning pink and raw in the cold winter weather. He sniffs again. The garden is bare and cold, and I shiver slightly as we walk down the path.

But this isn't the old garden, there's not a forest at the end waiting for us, and there's no Liz, and no Patty waiting to be found alone in the trees.

I stop at the six-foot high stone wall that marks the end of the lawn, and turn around. I stare up at our new home. I don't know how the Earl got a place like this so damned quick, it's best not to ask, but the fact of the matter is that we're now living in what looks like some sort of massive country house.

I like it. It's comfortable. And the roof's red.

Jasdero blinks at me from under his hat. "And the door's black."

"And our room's bigger now."

There's a long silence. Slowly Jasdero wanders back down the path, towards a little pond that the Earl says he put in the garden specially for Road, 'cuz she likes looking at the fish. I watch him. He's walking funny, funnier than usual, putting most of his weight on his left foot. He's been walking like that ever since we were let out of bed, because he's not quite better yet.

Neither am I. My left arm's in a sling, just like Jasdero's was when -

I shake my head and follow him.

At first I couldn't remember a lot after I woke up, but Lulubelle turned up again, and she told us that she watched the bomb go off from the sky, and then went and fetched the Earl, and he saved us. I asked her how come me and Jas were still alive, and she just shrugged.

"I think the bomb malfunctioned," she'd said. "It sort of collapsed in itself instead of exploding."

Then I asked her what happened to Liz and Patty, and she shrugged again.

Jasdero's been real quiet ever since he woke up. Once or twice I've tried to cheer him up, to get him back to normal, like when I shoved Tyki down the stairs in front of him, but all that happened was that Tyki got hurt 'cuz he's still on crutches and I got into trouble with the Earl.

I crouch next to the pond with Jasdero, and he reaches out and runs his finger along the frozen surface of the water. There are koi somewhere under that ice sheet, I think. Waiting for the thaw.

"David," says Jasdero real quietly.

"Huh."

"Do you…think they're - still alive, hee?"

"I don't know, Jasdero."

"I do."

I look up at him, and he suddenly grins at me. "I _know_ they are." He wobbles slightly where he's crouching and I grip his elbow to stop him from falling into the pond.

"Do you miss them, Debi?"

"No." But I glance up at him, and he's staring hard at me, and of course there's no point lying to Jasdero, there never is.

"I hope we see them again soon, hee."

"Huh." My ears are fucking _freezing. _I press my gloved hands on them hard and wish _I'd_ worn my hat too.

Jasdero stands up, and flicks a pebble across the ice. "I liked Patty. She made me laugh."

I remember her short hair and huge blue eyes, and that _smile_.

"Liz was pretty, too."

I hug my knees to my chest and think about that. Liz was…Liz. She was tall, and blonde, and easily frightened, and that was about it. "Hey, Jasdero."

"Mm?"

"You said that you think she's pretty."

"Yeah."

"But you also said you learned that word off Patty." I throw a pebble over to join his, and they bounce a few feet before skidding to a halt. "Remember? You acted like you'd never heard it before."

"Did I?" He stares up at the sky, which is grey today. "I must have forgotten what it meant." He looks down at me, and suddenly I feel really weird, because his eyes are wider than I've ever seen them, and there's…_something _in them that's not quite Jasdero. He stares at me for a moment. "I must have forgotten." Then he blinks, and that expression is gone. "I forget a lot of things, don't I, Debi?"

His words make me shiver. "Yeah, you do, Jas."

After a minute, I get up. "I'm cold, let's go back inside."

"But…" He hesitates, and glances wistfully over his shoulder at the wall, and the unknown world beyond it.

I know exactly what he's thinking. I grip his arm with my one good hand and gently pull him back towards the house. "They're not out there, Jas."

Sighing, he lets me lead him back inside.

The back hallway is narrow, but in a cosy sort of way, with pale green wallpaper patterned with leaves. Me and Jas kick our boots off, 'cuz the Earl insists on that now, and plod into the new sitting room, which is already lit by a warm fire.

Tyki looks up from his armchair as we come in, and then goes back to reading the paper. "Heya Jasdevi."

"Hey Tyki, hee."

"Huh."

We sit down on the hearthrug, and Jasdero pulls his hat off, which makes his hair stick up with static on the top of his head.

Tyki turns a page in his paper. "Feeling any better?"

"Not really."

"At least you can walk about properly again." He nudges the crutches leaning against his chair as he says this.

"Huh."

"In a bad mood, David?"

"Leave me alone."

He does.

Me and Jas both stare into the fire. After a minute, Jasdero starts rocking from side to side, and hums a little tune. I glance sideways at him in surprise.

_That's Patty's song._

_I know._

I can't believe he's remembered it. I can't believe _I_ recognise it, come to think of it.

"You two should get to bed," says Tyki presently.

"Fuck you."

"Don't swear, David. It's rude." I blink at that, because his words stir memories in my mind that I don't want to remember.

Somewhere in my head Liz's face surfaces, stern and pale, and I hear her scolding me again. '_You really need to learn how to keep your temper.'_

Like hell I do.

'_Bad word!'_

And _you_ can shut up, Patty.

_You're thinking crazy thoughts, Debi_.

I look at Jasdero. He smiles at me and taps his forehead. After a second, I grin back at him. _Yeah, aren't I?_

He nods slowly and then sticks his thumb in his mouth. I've told him so many times that he's too old to still be doing that, but sometimes talking to Jasdero is like arguing with a brick wall. Only the brick wall makes more sense.

He leans against me and half closes his eyes. "Tired, Debi."

"Yeah, Jas."

_Liz, Debi._

There's a long pause.

_Patty, Jas._

He smiles contentedly around his thumb. "Her real name's _Patricia."_

"What did you say?" asks Tyki, lowering the paper slightly.

"None of your business," I tell him without turning around.

"Fine."

I sit there and stare into the fire with my crazy brother, and think crazy thoughts about the first crazy people we ever met who called themselves normal.

**End**

**[Heya everyone, thanks so much for reading! Wow, all this positive feedback made me really happy, seriously, thanks so much guys.  
Can I just say...sequel, anyone? -w- ]**


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